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diff --git a/old/1177.txt b/old/1177.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bd6086f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1177.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8849 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memorabilia, by Xenophon + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Memorabilia + Recollections of Socrates + +Author: Xenophon + +Translator: H. G. Dakyns + +Posting Date: August 24, 2008 [EBook #1177] +Release Date: January, 1998 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MEMORABILIA *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers + + + + + +THE MEMORABILIA + +Recollections of Socrates + +By Xenophon + + + + +Translated by H. G. Dakyns + + + + + + Xenophon the Athenian was born 431 B.C. He was a + pupil of Socrates. He marched with the Spartans, + and was exiled from Athens. Sparta gave him land + and property in Scillus, where he lived for many + years before having to move once more, to settle + in Corinth. He died in 354 B.C. + + The Memorabilia is a recollection of Socrates in + word and deed, to show his character as the best + and happiest of men. + + + + + + PREPARER'S NOTE + + First Published 1897 by Macmillan and Co. + This was typed from Dakyns' series, "The Works of Xenophon," a + four-volume set. The complete list of Xenophon's works (though + there is doubt about some of these) is: + + Work Number of books + + The Anabasis 7 + The Hellenica 7 + The Cyropaedia 8 + The Memorabilia 4 + The Symposium 1 + The Economist 1 + On Horsemanship 1 + The Sportsman 1 + The Cavalry General 1 + The Apology 1 + On Revenues 1 + The Hiero 1 + The Agesilaus 1 + The Polity of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians 2 + + Text in brackets "{}" is my transliteration of Greek text into + English using an Oxford English Dictionary alphabet table. The + diacritical marks have been lost. + + + + + +THE MEMORABILIA + +or + +Recollections of Socrates + + + + +BOOK I + + +I + +I have often wondered by what arguments those who indicted (1) Socrates +could have persuaded the Athenians that his life was justly forfeit to +the state. The indictment was to this effect: "Socrates is guilty of +crime in refusing to recognise the gods acknowledged by the state, +and importing strange divinities of his own; he is further guilty of +corrupting the young." + + (1) {oi grapsamenoi} = Meletus (below, IV. iv. 4, viii. 4; "Apol." 11, + 19), Anytus ("Apol." 29), and Lycon. See Plat. "Apol." II. v. 18; + Diog. Laert. II. v. (Socr.); M. Schanz, "Plat. Apol. mit deutschen + Kemmentar, Einleitung," S. 5 foll. + +In the first place, what evidence did they produce that Socrates refused +to recognise the gods acknowledged by the state? Was it that he did not +sacrifice? or that he dispensed with divination? On the contrary, he was +often to be seen engaged in sacrifice, at home or at the common altars +of the state. Nor was his dependence on divination less manifest. Indeed +that saying of his, "A divinity (2) gives me a sign," was on everybody's +lips. So much so that, if I am not mistaken, it lay at the root of +the imputation that he imported novel divinities; though there was no +greater novelty in his case than in that of other believers in oracular +help, who commonly rely on omens of all sorts: the flight or cry +of birds, the utterances of man, chance meetings, (3) or a victim's +entrails. Even according to the popular conception, it is not the mere +fowl, it is not the chance individual one meets, who knows what things +are profitable for a man, but it is the gods who vouchsafe by such +instruments to signify the same. This was also the tenet of Socrates. +Only, whereas men ordinarily speak of being turned aside, or urged +onwards by birds, or other creatures encountered on the path, Socrates +suited his language to his conviction. "The divinity," said he, "gives +me a sign." Further, he would constantly advise his associates to do +this, or beware of doing that, upon the authority of this same divine +voice; and, as a matter of fact, those who listened to his warnings +prospered, whilst he who turned a deaf ear to them repented afterwards. +(4) Yet, it will be readily conceded, he would hardly desire to present +himself to his everyday companions in the character of either knave +or fool. Whereas he would have appeared to be both, supposing (5) the +God-given revelations had but revealed his own proneness to deception. +It is plain he would not have ventured on forecast at all, but for his +belief that the words he spoke would in fact be verified. Then on whom, +or what, was the assurance rooted, if not upon God? And if he had faith +in the gods, how could he fail to recognise them? + + (2) Or, "A divine something." See "Encyc. Brit." "Socrates." Dr. H. + Jackason; "The Daemon of Socrates," F. W. H. Myers; K. Joel, "Der + echte und der Xenophontische Sokrates," i. p. 70 foll.; cf. + Aristot. "M. M." 1182 a 10. + + (3) See Aesch. "P. V." 487, {enodious te sombolous}, "and pathway + tokens," L. Campbell; Arist. "Birds," 721, {sombolon ornin}: + "Frogs," 196, {to sometukhon exion}; "Eccl." 792; Hor. "Od." iii. + 27, 1-7. + + (4) See "Anab." III. i. 4; "Symp." iv. 48. + + (5) Or, "if his vaunted manifestations from heaven had but manifested + the falsity of his judgment." + +But his mode of dealing with his intimates has another aspect. As +regards the ordinary necessities of life, (6) his advice was, "Act as +you believe (7) these things may best be done." But in the case of those +darker problems, the issues of which are incalculable, he directed his +friends to consult the oracle, whether the business should be undertaken +or not. "No one," he would say, "who wishes to manage a house or city +with success: no one aspiring to guide the helm of state aright, can +afford to dipense with aid from above. Doubtless, skill in carpentering, +building, smithying, farming, of the art of governing men, together with +the theory of these processes, and the sciences of arithmetic, +economy, strategy, are affairs of study, and within the grasp of human +intelligence. Yet there is a side even of these, and that not the least +important, which the gods reserve to themselves, the bearing of which is +hidden from mortal vision. Thus, let a man sow a field or plant a farm +never so well, yet he cannot foretell who will gather in the fruits: +another may build him a house of fairest proportion, yet he knows not +who will inhabit it. Neither can a general foresee whether it will +profit him to conduct a campaign, nor a politician be certain whether +his leadership will turn to evil or good. Nor can the man who weds a +fair wife, looking forward to joy, know whether through her he shall not +reap sorrow. Neither can he who has built up a powerful connection in +the state know whether he shall not by means of it be cast out of his +city. To suppose that all these matters lay within the scope of human +judgment, to the exclusion of the preternatural, was preternatural +folly. Nor was it less extravagant to go and consult the will of Heaven +on any questions which it is given to us to decide by dint of learning. +As though a man should inquire, "Am I to choose an expert driver as my +coachman, or one who has never handled the reins?" "Shall I appoint a +mariner to be skipper of my vessel, or a landsman?" And so with respect +to all we may know by numbering, weighing, and measuring. To seek advice +from Heaven on such points was a sort of profanity. "Our duty is plain," +he would observe; "where we are permitted to work through our natural +faculties, there let us by all means apply them. But in things which are +hidden, let us seek to gain knowledge from above, by divination; for the +gods," he added, "grant signs to those to whom they will be gracious." + + (6) Or, "in the sphere of the determined," {ta anagkaia} = certa, + quorum eventus est necessarius; "things positive, the law-ordained + department of life," as we might say. See Grote, "H. G." i. ch. + xvi. 500 and passim. + + (7) Reading {os nomizoien}, or if {os enomizen}, translate "As to + things with certain results, he advised them to do them in the way + in which he believed they would be done best"; i.e. he did not + say, "follow your conscience," but, "this course seems best to me + under the circumstances." + +Again, Socrates ever lived in the public eye; at early morning he was to +be seen betaking himself to one of the promenades, or wrestling-grounds; +at noon he would appear with the gathering crowds in the market-place; +and as day declined, wherever the largest throng might be encountered, +there was he to be found, talking for the most part, while any one who +chose might stop and listen. Yet no one ever heard him say, or saw him +do anything impious or irreverent. Indeed, in contrast to others he set +his face against all discussion of such high matters as the nature of +the Universe; how the "kosmos," as the savants (8) phrase it, came into +being; (9) or by what forces the celestial phenomena arise. To trouble +one's brain about such matters was, he argued, to play the fool. He +would ask first: Did these investigators feel their knowledge of +things human so complete that they betook themselves to these lofty +speculations? Or did they maintain that they were playing their proper +parts in thus neglecting the affairs of man to speculate on the concerns +of God? He was astonished they did not see how far these problems lay +beyond mortal ken; since even those who pride themselves most on their +discussion of these points differ from each other, as madmen do. For +just as some madmen, he said, have no apprehension of what is truly +terrible, others fear where no fear is; some are ready to say and do +anything in public without the slightest symptom of shame; (10) others +think they ought not so much as to set foot among their fellow-men; some +honour neither temple, nor altar, nor aught else sacred to the name +of God; others bow down to stocks and stones and worship the very +beasts:--so is it with those thinkers whose minds are cumbered with +cares (11) concerning the Universal Nature. One sect (12) has discovered +that Being is one and indivisible. Another (13) that it is infinite in +number. If one (14) proclaims that all things are in a continual flux, +another (15) replies that nothing can possibly be moved at any time. +The theory of the universe as a process of birth and death is met by the +counter theory, that nothing ever could be born or ever will die. + + (8) Lit. "the sophists." See H. Sidgwick, "J. of Philol." iv. 1872; v. + 1874. + + (9) Reading {ephu}. Cf. Lucian, "Icaromenip." xlvi. 4, in imitation of + this passage apparently; or if {ekhei}, translate "is arranged." + See Grote, "H. G." viii. 573. + + (10) See "Anab." V. iv. 30. + + (11) See Arist. "Clouds," 101, {merimnophrontistai kaloi te kagathoi}. + + (12) e.g. Xenophanes and Parmenides, see Grote, "Plato," I. i. 16 + foll. + + (13) e.g. Leucippus and Democritus, ib. 63 foll. + + (14) e.g. Heraclitus, ib. 27 foll. + + (15) e.g. Zeno, ib. ii. 96. + +But the questioning of Socrates on the merits of these speculators +sometimes took another form. The student of human learning expects, he +said, to make something of his studies for the benefit of himself or +others, as he likes. Do these explorers into the divine operations hope +that when they have discovered by what forces the various phenomena +occur, they will create winds and waters at will and fruitful seasons? +Will they manipulate these and the like to suit their needs? or has no +such notion perhaps ever entered their heads, and will they be content +simply to know how such things come into existence? But if this was +his mode of describing those who meddle with such matters as these, he +himself never wearied of discussing human topics. What is piety? what is +impiety? What is the beautiful? what the ugly? What the noble? what the +base? What are meant by just and unjust? what by sobriety and madness? +what by courage and cowardice? What is a state? what is a statesman? +what is a ruler over men? what is a ruling character? and other like +problems, the knowledge of which, as he put it, conferred a patent of +nobility on the possessor, (16) whereas those who lacked the knowledge +might deservedly be stigmatised as slaves. + + (16) Or, "was distinctive of the 'beautiful and good.'" For the phrase + see below, ii. 2 et passim. + +Now, in so far as the opinions of Socrates were unknown to the world at +large, it is not surprising that the court should draw false conclusions +respecting them; but that facts patent to all should have been ignored +is indeed astonishing. + +At one time Socrates was a member of the Council, (17) he had taken +the senatorial oath, and sworn "as a member of that house to act in +conformity with the laws." It was thus he chanced to be President of the +Popular Assembly, (18) when that body was seized with a desire to put +the nine (19) generals, Thrasyllus, Erasinides, and the rest, to death +by a single inclusive vote. Whereupon, in spite of the bitter resentment +of the people, and the menaces of several influential citizens, +he refused to put the question, esteeming it of greater importance +faithfully to abide by the oath which he had taken, than to gratify the +people wrongfully, or to screen himself from the menaces of the mighty. +The fact being, that with regard to the care bestowed by the gods upon +men, his belief differed widely from that of the multitude. Whereas most +people seem to imagine that the gods know in part, and are ignorant in +part, Socrates believed firmly that the gods know all things--both the +things that are said and the things that are done, and the things that +are counselled in the silent chambers of the heart. Moreover, they are +present everywhere, and bestow signs upon man concerning all the things +of man. + + (17) Or "Senate." Lit. "the Boule." + + (18) Lit. "Epistates of the Ecclesia." See Grote, "H. G." viii. 271; + Plat. "Apol." 32 B. + + (19) {ennea} would seem to be a slip of the pen for {okto}, eight. See + "Hell." I. v. 16; vi. 16; vi. 29; vii. 1 foll. + +I can, therefore, but repeat my former words. It is a marvel to me +how the Athenians came to be persuaded that Socrates fell short of +sober-mindedness as touching the gods. A man who never ventured one +impious word or deed against the gods we worship, but whose whole +language concerning them, and his every act, closely coincided, word +for word, and deed for deed, with all we deem distinctive of devoutest +piety. + + +II + +No less surprising to my mind is the belief that Socrates corrupted +the young. This man, who, beyond what has been already stated, kept +his appetites and passions under strict control, who was pre-eminently +capable of enduring winter's cold and summer's heat and every kind of +toil, who was so schooled to curtail his needs that with the scantiest +of means he never lacked sufficiency--is it credible that such a +man could have made others irreverent or lawless, or licentious, or +effeminate in face of toil? Was he not rather the saving of many through +the passion for virtue which he roused in them, and the hope he infused +that through careful management of themselves they might grow to be +truly beautiful and good--not indeed that he ever undertook to be a +teacher of virtue, but being evidently virtuous himself he made those +who associated with him hope that by imitating they might at last +resemble him. + +But let it not be inferred that he was negligent of his own body +or approved of those who neglected theirs. If excess of eating, +counteracted by excess of toil, was a dietary of which he disapproved, +(1) to gratify the natural claim of appetite in conjunction with +moderate exercise was a system he favoured, as tending to a healthy +condition of the body without trammelling the cultivation of the spirit. +On the other hand, there was nothing dandified or pretentious about +him; he indulged in no foppery of shawl or shoes, or other effeminacy of +living. + + (1) See (Plat.) "Erast." 132 C. + +Least of all did he tend to make his companions greedy of money. He +would not, while restraining passion generally, make capital out of the +one passion which attached others to himself; and by this abstinence, +he believed, he was best consulting his own freedom; in so much that he +stigmatised those who condescended to take wages for their society as +vendors of their own persons, because they were compelled to discuss for +the benefits of their paymasters. What surprised him was that any one +possessing virtue should deign to ask money as its price instead of +simply finding his reward in the acquisition of an honest friend, as if +the new-fledged soul of honour could forget her debt of gratitude to her +greatest benefactor. + +For himself, without making any such profession, he was content to +believe that those who accepted his views would play their parts as good +and true friends to himself and one another their lives long. Once more +then: how should a man of this character corrupt the young? unless the +careful cultivation of virtue be corruption. + +But, says the accuser, (2) by all that's sacred! did not Socrates cause +his associates to despise the established laws when he dwelt on the +folly of appointing state officers by ballot? (3) a principle which, he +said, no one would care to apply in selecting a pilot or a flute-player +or in any similar case, where a mistake would be far less disastrous +than in matters political. Words like these, according to the accuser, +tended to incite the young to contemn the established constitution, +rendering them violent and headstrong. But for myself I think that +those who cultivate wisdom and believe themselves able to instruct +their fellow-citizens as to their interests are least likely to become +partisans of violence. They are too well aware that to violence attach +enmities and dangers, whereas results as good may be obtained by +persuasion safely and amicably. For the victim of violence hates with +vindictiveness as one from whom something precious has been stolen, +while the willing subject of persuasion is ready to kiss the hand which +has done him a service. Hence compulsion is not the method of him +who makes wisdom his study, but of him who wields power untempered +by reflection. Once more: the man who ventures on violence needs the +support of many to fight his battles, while he whose strength lies in +persuasiveness triumphs single-handed, for he is conscious of a cunning +to compel consent unaided. And what has such a one to do with the +spilling of blood? since how ridiculous it were to do men to death +rather than turn to account the trusty service of the living. + + (2) {o kategoros} = Polycrates possibly. See M. Schantz, op. cit., + "Einleitun," S. 6: "Die Anklagerede des Polykrates"; Introduction, + p. xxxii. foll. + + (3) i.e. staking the election of a magistrate on the colour of a bean. + See Aristot. "Ath. Pol." viii. 2, and Dr. Sandys ad loc. + +But, the accuser answers, the two men (4) who wrought the greatest evils +to the state at any time--to wit, Critias and Alcibiades--were both +companions of Socrates--Critias the oligarch, and Alcibiades the +democrat. Where would you find a more arrant thief, savage, and murderer +(5) than the one? where such a portent of insolence, incontinence, +and high-handedness as the other? For my part, in so far as these two +wrought evil to the state, I have no desire to appear as the apologist +of either. I confine myself to explaining what this intimacy of theirs +with Socrates really was. + + (4) See "Hell." I. and II. passim. + + (5) Reading {kleptistatos te kai biaiotatos kai phonikotatos}, or if + {pleonektistatos te kai biaiotatis}, translate "such a manner of + greed and violence as the one, of insolence, etc., as the other?" + See Grote, "H. G." viii. 337. + +Never were two more ambitious citizens seen at Athens. Ambition was in +their blood. If they were to have their will, all power was to be in +their hands; their fame was to eclipse all other. Of Socrates they +knew--first that he lived an absolutely independent life on the +scantiest means; next that he was self-disciplined to the last degree +in respect of pleasures; lastly that he was so formidable in debate that +there was no antagonist he could not twist round his little finger. Such +being their views, and such the character of the pair, which is the more +probable: that they sought the society of Socrates because they felt the +fascination of his life, and were attracted by the bearing of the man? +or because they thought, if only we are leagued with him we shall become +adepts in statecraft and unrivalled in the arts of speech and action? +For my part I believe that if the choice from Heaven had been given them +to live such a life as they saw Socrates living to its close, or to die, +they would both have chosen death. + +Their acts are a conclusive witness to their characters. They no sooner +felt themselves to be the masters of those they came in contact with +than they sprang aside from Socrates and plunged into that whirl of +politics but for which they might never have sought his society. + +It may be objected: before giving his companions lessons in politics +Socrates had better have taught them sobriety. (6) Without disputing the +principle, I would point out that a teacher cannot fail to discover to +his pupils his method of carrying out his own precepts, and this along +with argumentative encouragement. Now I know that Socrates disclosed +himself to his companions as a beautiful and noble being, who would +reason and debate with them concerning virtue and other human interests +in the noblest manner. And of these two I know that as long as they were +companions of Socrates even they were temperate, not assuredly from fear +of being fined or beaten by Socrates, but because they were persuaded +for the nonce of the excellence of such conduct. + + (6) {sophrosune} = "sound-mindedness," "temperence." See below, IV. + iii. 1. + +Perhaps some self-styled philosophers (7) may here answer: "Nay, the man +truly just can never become unjust, the temperate man can never become +intemperate, the man who has learnt any subject of knowledge can +never be as though he had learnt it not." That, however, is not my own +conclusion. It is with the workings of the soul as with those of the +body; want of exercise of the organ leads to inability of function, here +bodily, there spiritual, so that we can neither do the things that +we should nor abstain from the things we should not. And that is why +fathers keep their sons, however temperate they may be, out of the reach +of wicked men, considering that if the society of the good is a training +in virtue so also is the society of the bad its dissolution. + + (7) In reference to some such tenet as that of Antisthenes ap. Diog. + Laert. VI. ix. 30, {areskei d' autois kai ten areten didakten + einai, katha phesin 'Antisthenes en to 'Rraklei kai anapobleton + uparkhein}. Cf. Plat. "Protag." 340 D, 344 D. + +To this the poet (8) is a witness, who says: + + "From the noble thou shalt be instructed in nobleness; but, and if + thou minglest with the base thou wilt destroy what wisdom thou + hast now"; + +And he (9) who says: + + "But the good man has his hour of baseness as well as his hour of + virtue"-- + +to whose testimony I would add my own. For I see that it is impossible +to remember a long poem without practice and repetition; so is +forgetfulness of the words of instruction engendered in the heart +that has ceased to value them. With the words of warning fades the +recollection of the very condition of mind in which the soul yearned +after holiness; and once forgetting this, what wonder that the man +should let slip also the memory of virtue itself! Again I see that a man +who falls into habits of drunkenness or plunges headlong into licentious +love, loses his old power of practising the right and abstaining from +the wrong. Many a man who has found frugality easy whilst passion was +cold, no sooner falls in love than he loses the faculty at once, and in +his prodigal expenditure of riches he will no longer withhold his hand +from gains which in former days were too base to invite his touch. Where +then is the difficulty of supposing that a man may be temperate to-day, +and to-morrow the reverse; or that he who once has had it in his power +to act virtuously may not quite lose that power? (10) To myself, at all +events, it seems that all beautiful and noble things are the result +of constant practice and training; and pre-eminently the virtue of +temperance, seeing that in one and the same bodily frame pleasures are +planted and spring up side by side with the soul and keep whispering in +her ear, "Have done with self-restraint, make haste to gratify us and +the body." (11) + + (8) Theognis, 35, 36. See "Symp." ii. 4; Plat. "Men." 95 D. + + (9) The author is unknown. See Plat. "Protag." l.c. + + (10) Cf. "Cyrop." V. i. 9 foll.; VI. i. 41. + + (11) See my remarks, "Hellenica Essays," p. 371 foll. + +But to return to Critias and Alcibiades, I repeat that as long as they +lived with Socrates they were able by his support to dominate their +ignoble appetites; (12) but being separated from him, Critias had to +fly to Thessaly, (13) where he consorted with fellows better versed in +lawlessness than justice. And Alcibiades fared no better. His personal +beauty on the one hand incited bevies of fine ladies (14) to hunt him +down as fair spoil, while on the other hand his influence in the state +and among the allies exposed him to the corruption of many an adept in +the arts of flattery; honoured by the democracy and stepping easily +to the front rank he behaved like an athlete who in the games of the +Palaestra is so assured of victory that he neglects his training; thus +he presently forgot the duty which he owed himself. + + (12) Cf. (Plat.) "Theag." 130 A. + + (13) See "Hell." II. iii. 36. + + (14) Cf. Plut. "Ages.," "Alcib." + +Such were the misadventures of these two. Is the sequel extraordinary? +Inflated with the pride of ancestry, (15) exalted by their wealth, +puffed up by power, sapped to the soul's core by a host of human +tempters, separate moreover for many a long day from Socrates--what +wonder that they reached the full stature of arrogancy! And for the +offences of these two Socrates is to be held responsible! The accuser +will have it so. But for the fact that in early days, when they +were both young and of an age when dereliction from good feeling and +self-restraint might have been expected, this same Socrates kept them +modest and well-behaved, not one word of praise is uttered by the +accuser for all this. That is not the measure of justice elsewhere +meted. Would a master of the harp or flute, would a teacher of any sort +who has turned out proficient pupils, be held to account because one of +them goes away to another teacher and turns out to be a failure? Or what +father, if he have a son who in the society of a certain friend remains +an honest lad, but falling into the company of some other becomes +a good-for-nothing, will that father straightway accuse the earlier +instructor? Will not he rather, in proportion as the boy deteriorates in +the company of the latter, bestow more heartfelt praise upon the former? +What father, himself sharing the society of his own children, is held to +blame for their transgressions, if only his own goodness be established? +Here would have been a fair test to apply to Socrates: Was he guilty of +any base conduct himself? If so let him be set down as a knave, but if, +on the contrary, he never faltered in sobriety from beginning to end, +how in the name of justice is he to be held to account for a baseness +which was not in him? + + (15) Or, "became overweening in arrogance." Cf. "Henry VIII. II. iv. + 110": "But your heart is crammed with arrogancy, spleen, and + pride." + +I go further: if, short of being guilty of any wrong himself, he saw +the evil doings of others with approval, reason were he should be held +blameworthy. Listen then: Socrates was well aware that Critias was +attached to Euthydemus, (16) aware too that he was endeavouring to deal +by him after the manner of those wantons whose love is carnal of the +body. From this endeavour he tried to deter him, pointing out how +illiberal a thing it was, how ill befitting a man of honour to appear +as a beggar before him whom he loved, in whose eyes he would fain be +precious, ever petitioning for something base to give and base to get. + + (16) See below, IV. ii. 1 (if the same person). + +But when this reasoning fell on deaf ears and Critias refused to be +turned aside, Socrates, as the story goes, took occasion of the presence +of a whole company and of Euthydemus to remark that Critias appeared to +be suffering from a swinish affection, or else why this desire to rub +himself against Euthydemus like a herd of piglings scraping against +stones. + +The hatred of Critias to Socrates doubtless dates from this incident. +He treasured it up against him, and afterwards, when he was one of the +Thirty and associated with Charicles as their official lawgiver, (17) +he framed the law against teaching the art of words (18) merely from a +desire to vilify Socrates. He was at a loss to know how else to lay hold +of him except by levelling against him the vulgar charge (19) against +philosophers, by which he hoped to prejudice him with the public. It +was a charge quite unfounded as regards Socrates, if I may judge from +anything I ever heard fall from his lips myself or have learnt about him +from others. But the animus of Critias was clear. At the time when the +Thirty were putting citizens, highly respectable citizens, to death +wholesale, and when they were egging on one man after another to the +commission of crime, Socrates let fall an observation: "It would be +sufficiently extraordinary if the keeper of a herd of cattle (20) who +was continually thinning and impoverishing his cattle did not admit +himself to be a sorry sort of herdsman, but that a ruler of the state +who was continually thinning and impoverishing the citizens should +neither be ashamed nor admit himself to be a sorry sort of ruler was +more extraordinary still." The remark being reported to the government, +Socrates was summoned by Critias and Charicles, who proceeded to point +out the law and forbade him to converse with the young. "Was it open to +him," Socrates inquired of the speaker, "in case he failed to understand +their commands in any point, to ask for an explanation?" + + (17) Lit. "Nomothetes." See "Hell." II. iii. 2; Dem. 706. For + Charicles see Lys. "c. Eratosth." S. 56; Aristot. "Pol." v. 6. 6. + + (18) See Diog. Laert. II. v. ("Socr.") + + (19) i.e. {to ton etto logon kreitto poiein}, "of making the worse + appear the better cause." Cf. Arist. "Clouds." + + (20) See Dio Chrys. "Or." 43. + +"Certainly," the two assented. + +Then Socrates: I am prepared to obey the laws, but to avoid +transgression of the law through ignorance I need instruction: is it on +the supposition that the art of words tends to correctness of statement +or to incorrectness that you bid us abstain from it? for if the former, +it is clear we must abstain from speaking correctly, but if the latter, +our endeavour should be to amend our speech. + +To which Charicles, in a fit of temper, retorted: In consideration of +your ignorance, (21) Socrates, we will frame the prohibition in +language better suited to your intelligence: we forbid you to hold any +conversation whatsoever with the young. + + (21) See Aristot. "de Soph. El." 183 b7. + +Then Socrates: To avoid all ambiguity then, or the possibility of my +doing anything else than what you are pleased to command, may I ask you +to define up to what age a human being is to be considered young? + +For just so long a time (Charicles answered) as he is debarred from +sitting as a member of the Council, (22) as not having attained to the +maturity of wisdom; accordingly you will not hold converse with any one +under the age of thirty. + + (22) The Boule or Senate. See W. L. Newman, "Pol. Aristot." i. 326. + +Soc. In making a purchase even, I am not to ask, what is the price of +this? if the vendor is under the age of thirty? + +Cha. Tut, things of that sort: but you know, Socrates, that you have +a way of asking questions, when all the while you know how the matter +stands. Let us have no questions of that sort. + +Soc. Nor answers either, I suppose, if the inquiry concerns what I know, +as, for instance, where does Charicles live? or where is Critias to be +found? + +Oh yes, of course, things of that kind (replied Charicles), while +Critias added: But at the same time you had better have done with your +shoemakers, carpenters, and coppersmiths. (23) These must be pretty well +trodden out at heel by this time, considering the circulation you have +given them. + + (23) Cf. Plat. "Gorg." 491 A; "Symp." 221 E; Dio Chrys. "Or." 55, 560 + D, 564 A. + +Soc. And am I to hold away from their attendant topics also--the just, +the holy, and the like? + +Most assuredly (answered Charicles), and from cowherds in particular; or +else see that you do not lessen the number of the herd yourself. + +Thus the secret was out. The remark of Socrates about the cattle had +come to their ears, and they could not forgive the author of it. + +Perhaps enough has been said to explain the kind of intimacy which +had subsisted between Critias and Socrates, and their relation to one +another. But I will venture to maintain that where the teacher is not +pleasing to the pupil there is no education. Now it cannot be said of +Critias and Alcibiades that they associated with Socrates because they +found him pleasing to them. And this is true of the whole period. From +the first their eyes were fixed on the headship of the state as their +final goal. During the time of their intimacy with Socrates there were +no disputants whom they were more eager to encounter than professed +politicians. + +Thus the story is told of Alcibiades--how before the age of twenty he +engaged his own guardian, Pericles, at that time prime minister of the +state, in a discussion concerning laws. + +Alc. Please, Pericles, can you teach me what a law is? + +Per. To be sure I can. + +Alc. I should be so much obliged if you would do so. One so often hears +the epithet "law-abiding" applied in a complimentary sense; yet, it +strikes me, one hardly deserves the compliment, if one does not know +what a law is. + +Per. Fortunately there is a ready answer to your difficulty. You wish to +know what a law is? Well, those are laws which the majority, being met +together in conclave, approve and enact as to what it is right to do, +and what it is right to abstain from doing. + +Alc. Enact on the hypothesis that it is right to do what is good? or to +do what is bad? + +Per. What is good, to be sure, young sir, not what is bad. + +Alc. Supposing it is not the majority, but, as in the case of an +oligarchy, the minority, who meet and enact the rules of conduct, what +are these? + +Per. Whatever the ruling power of the state after deliberation enacts as +our duty to do, goes by the name of laws. + +Alc. Then if a tyrant, holding the chief power in the state, enacts +rules of conduct for the citizens, are these enactments law? + +Per. Yes, anything which a tyrant as head of the state enacts, also goes +by the name of law. + +Alc. But, Pericles, violence and lawlessness--how do we define them? +Is it not when a stronger man forces a weaker to do what seems right to +him--not by persuasion but by compulsion? + +Per. I should say so. + +Alc. It would seem to follow that if a tyrant, without persuading +the citizens, drives them by enactment to do certain things--that is +lawlessness? + +Per. You are right; and I retract the statement that measures passed by +a tyrant without persuasion of the citizens are law. + +Alc. And what of measures passed by a minority, not by persuasion of the +majority, but in the exercise of its power only? Are we, or are we not, +to apply the term violence to these? + +Per. I think that anything which any one forces another to do without +persuasion, whether by enactment or not, is violence rather than law. + +Alc. It would seem that everything which the majority, in the exercise +of its power over the possessors of wealth, and without persuading them, +chooses to enact, is of the nature of violence rather than of law? + +To be sure (answered Pericles), adding: At your age we were clever hands +at such quibbles ourselves. It was just such subtleties which we used to +practise our wits upon; as you do now, if I mistake not. + +To which Alcibiades replied: Ah, Pericles, I do wish we could have met +in those days when you were at your cleverest in such matters. + +Well, then, as soon as the desired superiority over the politicians of +the day seemed to be attained, Critias and Alcibiades turned their backs +on Socrates. They found his society unattractive, not to speak of the +annoyance of being cross-questioned on their own shortcomings. Forthwith +they devoted themselves to those affairs of state but for which they +would never have come near him at all. + +No; if one would seek to see true companions of Socrates, one must +look to Crito, (24) and Chaerephon, and Chaerecrates, to Hermogenes, +to Simmias and Cebes, to Phaedondes and others, who clung to him not to +excel in the rhetoric of the Assembly or the law-courts, but with the +nobler ambition of attaining to such beauty and goodliness of soul as +would enable them to discharge the various duties of life to house and +family, to relatives and friends, to fellow-citizens, and to the state +at large. Of these true followers not one in youth or old age was ever +guilty, or thought guilty, of committing any evil deed. + + (24) For these true followers, familiar to us in the pages of Plato, + ("Crito," "Apol.," "Phaedo," etc) see Cobet, "Pros. Xen." + +"But for all that," the accuser insists, "Socrates taught sons to pour +contumely upon their fathers (25) by persuading his young friends that +he could make them wiser than their sires, or by pointing out that +the law allowed a son to sue his father for aberration of mind, and to +imprison him, which legal ordinance he put in evidence to prove that it +might be well for the wiser to imprison the more ignorant." + + (25) See "Apol." 20; Arist. "Clouds," 1407, where Pheidippides "drags + his father Strepsiades through the mire." + +Now what Socrates held was, that if a man may with justice incarcerate +another for no better cause than a form of folly or ignorance, this same +person could not justly complain if he in his turn were kept in bonds by +his superiors in knowledge; and to come to the bottom of such questions, +to discover the difference between madness and ignorance was a problem +which he was perpetually working at. His opinion came to this: If a +madman may, as a matter of expediency to himself and his friends, be +kept in prison, surely, as a matter of justice, the man who knows not +what he ought to know should be content to sit at the feet of those who +know, and be taught. + +But it was the rest of their kith and kin, not fathers only (according +to the accuser), whom Socrates dishonoured in the eyes of his circle +of followers, when he said that "the sick man or the litigant does not +derive assistance from his relatives, (26) but from his doctor in the +one case, and his legal adviser in the other." "Listen further to his +language about friends," says the accuser: "'What is the good of their +being kindly disposed, unless they can be of some practical use to you? +Mere goodness of disposition is nothing; those only are worthy of +honour who combine with the knowledge of what is right the faculty of +expounding it;' (27) and so by bringing the young to look upon himself +as a superlatively wise person gifted with an extraordinary capacity for +making others wise also, he so worked on the dispositions of those who +consorted with him that in their esteem the rest of the world counted +for nothing by comparison with Socrates." + + (26) See Grote, "H. G." v. 535. + + (27) Cf. Thuc. ii. 60. Pericles says, "Yet I with whom you are so + angry venture to say of myself, that I am as capable as any one of + devising and explaining a sound policy."--Jowett. + +Now I admit the language about fathers and the rest of a man's +relations. I can go further, and add some other sayings of his, that +"when the soul (which is alone the indwelling centre of intelligence) +is gone out of a man, be he our nearest and dearest friend, we carry the +body forth and bury it out of sight." "Even in life," he used to say, +"each of us is ready to part with any portion of his best possession--to +wit, his own body--if it be useless and unprofitable. He will remove it +himself, or suffer another to do so in his stead. Thus men cut off their +own nails, hair, or corns; they allow surgeons to cut and cauterise +them, not without pains and aches, and are so grateful to the doctor for +his services that they further give him a fee. Or again, a man ejects +the spittle from his mouth as far as possible. (28) Why? Because it is +of no use while it stays within the system, but is detrimental rather." + + (28) See Aristot. "Eth. Eud." vii. 1. + +Now by these instances his object was not to inculcate the duty of +burying one's father alive or of cutting oneself to bits, but to show +that lack of intelligence means lack of worth; (29) and so he called +upon his hearers to be as sensible and useful as they could be, so that, +be it father or brother or any one else whose esteem he would deserve, +a man should not hug himself in careless self-interest, trusting to mere +relationship, but strive to be useful to those whose esteem he coveted. + + (29) i.e. "witless and worthless are synonymous." + +But (pursues the accuser) by carefully culling the most immoral +passages of the famous poets, and using them as evidences, he taught his +associates to be evildoers and tyrranical: the line of Hesiod (30) for +instance-- + + No work is a disgrace; slackness of work is the disgrace-- + +"interpreted," says the accuser, "by Socrates as if the poet enjoined us +to abstain from no work wicked or ignoble; do everything for the sake of +gain." + + (30) "Works and Days," 309 {'Ergon d' ouden oneidos}. Cf. Plat. + "Charm." 163 C. + +Now while Socrates would have entirely admitted the propositions that +"it is a blessing and a benefit to a man to be a worker," and that "a +lazy do-nothing is a pestilent evil," that "work is good and idleness +a curse," the question arises, whom did he mean by workers? In his +vocabulary only those were good workmen (31) who were engaged on good +work; dicers and gamblers and others engaged on any other base and +ruinous business he stigmatised as the "idle drones"; and from this +point of view the quotation from Hesiod is unimpeachable-- + + No work is a disgrace; only idlesse is disgrace. + +But there was a passage from Homer (32) for ever on his lips, as the +accuser tells us--the passage which says concerning Odysseus, + + What prince, or man of name, + He found flight-giv'n, he would restrain with words of gentlest blame: + "Good sir, it fits you not to fly, or fare as one afraid, + You should not only stay yourself, but see the people stayed." + + Thus he the best sort us'd; the worst, whose spirits brake out in + noise, (33) He cudgell'd with his sceptre, chid, and said, "Stay, + wretch, be still, And hear thy betters; thou art base, and both in + power and skill Poor and unworthy, without name in counsel or in + war." We must not all be kings. + + (31) See below, III. ix. 9. + + (32) "Il." ii. 188 foll., 199 foll. (so Chapman). + + (33) Lit. "But whatever man of the people he saw and found him + shouting."--W. Leaf. + +The accuser informs us that Socrates interpreted these lines as though +the poet approved the giving of blows to commoners and poor folk. Now +no such remark was ever made by Socrates; which indeed would have been +tantamount to maintaining that he ought to be beaten himself. What he +did say was, that those who were useful neither in word nor deed, who +were incapable of rendering assistance in time of need to the army or +the state or the people itself, be they never so wealthy, ought to be +restrained, and especially if to incapacity they added effrontery. + +As to Socrates, he was the very opposite of all this--he was plainly +a lover of the people, and indeed of all mankind. Though he had many +ardent admirers among citizens and strangers alike, he never demanded +any fee for his society from any one, (34) but bestowed abundantly upon +all alike of the riches of his soul--good things, indeed, of which +fragments accepted gratis at his hands were taken and sold at high +prices to the rest of the community by some, (35) who were not, as he +was, lovers of the people, since with those who had not money to give in +return they refused to discourse. But of Socrates be it said that in +the eyes of the whole world he reflected more honour on the state and a +richer lustre than ever Lichas, (36) whose fame is proverbial, shed +on Lacedaemon. Lichas feasted and entertained the foreign residents in +Lacedaemon at the Gymnopaediae most handsomely. Socrates gave a lifetime +to the outpouring of his substance in the shape of the greatest benefits +bestowed on all who cared to receive them. In other words, he made +those who lived in his society better men, and sent them on their way +rejoicing. + + (34) See "Symp." iv. 43; Plat. "Hipp. maj." 300 D; "Apol." 19 E. + + (35) See Diog. Laert. II. viii. 1. + + (36) See "Hell." III. ii. 21; Thuc. v. 50; Plut. "Cim." 284 C. For the + Gymnopaediae, see Paus. III. xi. 9; Athen. xiv. p. 631. + +To no other conclusion, therefore, can I come but that, being so good a +man, Socrates was worthier to have received honour from the state than +death. And this I take to be the strictly legal view of the case, for +what does the law require? (37) "If a man be proved to be a thief, a +filcher of clothes, a cut-purse, a housebreaker, a man-stealer, a robber +of temples, the penalty is death." Even so; and of all men Socrates +stood most aloof from such crimes. + + (37) See "Symp." iv. 36; Plat. "Rep." 575 B; "Gorg." 508 E. + +To the state he was never the cause of any evil--neither disaster in +war, nor faction, nor treason, nor any other mischief whatsoever. And if +his public life was free from all offence, so was his private. He never +hurt a single soul either by deprivation of good or infliction of evil, +nor did he ever lie under the imputation of any of those misdoings. +where then is his liability to the indictment to be found? Who, so +far from disbelieving in the gods, as set forth in the indictment, was +conspicuous beyond all men for service to heaven; so far from corrupting +the young--a charge alleged with insistence by the prosecutor--was +notorious for the zeal with which he strove not only to stay his +associates from evil desires, but to foster in them a passionate desire +for that loveliest and queenliest of virtues without which states and +families crumble to decay. (38) Such being his conduct, was he not +worthy of high honour from the state of Athens? + + (38) Or, "the noblest and proudest virtue by means of which states and + families are prosperously directed." + + +III + +It may serve to illustrate the assertion that he benefited his +associates partly by the display of his own virtue and partly by verbal +discourse and argument, if I set down my various recollections (1) +on these heads. And first with regard to religion and the concerns of +heaven. In conduct and language his behaviour conformed to the rule laid +down by the Pythia (2) in reply to the question, "How shall we act?" as +touching a sacrifice or the worship of ancestors, or any similar point. +Her answer is: "Act according to the law and custom of your state, and +you will act piously." After this pattern Socrates behaved himself, and +so he exhorted others to behave, holding them to be but busybodies and +vain fellows who acted on any different principle. + + (1) Hence the title of the work, {'Apomenmoneumata}, "Recollections, + Memoirs, Memorabilia." See Diog. Laert. "Xen." II. vi. 48. + + (2) The Pythia at Delphi. + +His formula or prayer was simple: "Give me that which is best for me," +for, said he, the gods know best what good things are--to pray for gold +or silver or despotic power were no better than to make some particular +throw at dice or stake in battle or any such thing the subject of +prayer, of which the future consequences are manifestly uncertain. (3) + + (3) See (Plat.) "Alcib. II." 142 foll.; Valerius Max. vii. 2; + "Spectator," No. 207. + +If with scant means he offered but small sacrifices he believed that he +was in no wise inferior to those who make frequent and large sacrifices +from an ampler store. It were ill surely for the very gods themselves, +could they take delight in large sacrifices rather than in small, else +oftentimes must the offerings of bad men be found acceptable rather +than of good; nor from the point of view of men themselves would life +be worth living if the offerings of a villain rather than of a righteous +man found favour in the sight of Heaven. His belief was that the joy of +the gods is greater in proportion to the holiness of the giver, and he +was ever an admirer of that line of Hesiod which says, + + According to thine ability do sacrifice to the immortal gods. (4) + + (4) Hesiod, "Works and Days," 336. See "Anab." III. ii. 9. + +"Yes," he would say, "in our dealings with friends and strangers alike, +and in reference to the demands of life in general, there is no better +motto for a man than that: 'let a man do according to his ability.'" + +Or to take another point. If it appeared to him that a sign from +heaven had been given him, nothing would have induced him to go against +heavenly warning: he would as soon have been persuaded to accept the +guidance of a blind man ignorant of the path to lead him on a journey +in place of one who knew the road and could see; and so he denounced the +folly of others who do things contrary to the warnings of God in order +to avoid some disrepute among men. For himself he despised all human +aids by comparison with counsel from above. + +The habit and style of living to which he subjected his soul and body +was one which under ordinary circumstances (5) would enable any one +adopting it to look existence cheerily in the face and to pass his days +serenely: it would certainly entail no difficulties as regards expense. +So frugal was it that a man must work little indeed who could not earn +the quantum which contented Socrates. Of food he took just enough +to make eating a pleasure--the appetite he brought to it was sauce +sufficient; while as to drinks, seeing that he only drank when thirsty, +any draught refreshed. (6) If he accepted an invitation to dinner, he +had no difficulty in avoiding the common snare of over-indulgence, and +his advice to people who could not equally control their appetite was to +avoid taking what would allure them to eat if not hungry or to drink if +not thirsty. (7) Such things are ruinous to the constitution, he said, +bad for stomachs, brains, and soul alike; or as he used to put it, with +a touch of sarcasm, (8) "It must have been by feasting men on so many +dainty dishes that Circe produced her pigs; only Odysseus through his +continency and the 'promptings (9) of Hermes' abstained from touching +them immoderately, and by the same token did not turn into a swine." So +much for this topic, which he touched thus lightly and yet seriously. + + (5) {ei me ti daimonion eie}, "save under some divinely-ordained + calamity." Cf. "Cyrop." I. vi. 18; "Symp." viii. 43. + + (6) See "Ages." ix; Cic. "Tusc." v. 34, 97; "de Fin." ii. 28, 90. + + (7) Cf. Plut. "Mor." 128 D; Clement, "Paedag." 2. 173, 33; "Strom." 2, + 492, 24; Aelian, "N. A." 8, 9. + + (8) "Half in gibe and half in jest," in ref. to "Od." x. 233 foll.: + "So she let them in..." + + (9) {upothemosune}, "inspiration." Cf. "Il." xv. 412; "Od." xvi. 233. + +But as to the concerns of Aphrodite, his advice was to hold strongly +aloof from the fascination of fair forms: once lay finger on these +and it is not easy to keep a sound head and a sober mind. To take a +particular case. It was a mere kiss which, as he had heard, Critobulus +(10) had some time given to a fair youth, the son of Alcibiades. (11) +Accordingly Critobulus being present, Socrates propounded the question. + + (10) For Critobulus (the son of Crito) see "Econ." i. 1 foll.; "Symp." + i. 3 foll. + + (11) See Isocr. "Or." xvi. Cobet conj. {ton tou 'Axiokhou uion}, i.e. + Clinias. + +Soc. Tell me, Xenophon, have you not always believed Critobulus to be a +man of sound sense, not wild and self-willed? Should you not have said +that he was remarkable for his prudence rather than thoughtless or +foolhardy? + +Xen. Certainly that is what I should have said of him. + +Soc. Then you are now to regard him as quite the reverse--a hot-blooded, +reckless libertine: this is the sort of man to throw somersaults into +knives, (12) or to leap into the jaws of fire. + + (12) Cf. "Symp." ii. 10, iv. 16. See Schneider ad loc. + +Xen. And what have you seen him doing, that you give him so bad a +character? + +Soc. Doing? Why, has not the fellow dared to steal a kiss from the son +of Alcibiades, most fair of youths and in the golden prime? + +Xen. Nay, then, if that is the foolhardy adventure, it is a danger which +I could well encounter myself. + +Soc. Poor soul! and what do you expect your fate to be after that +kiss? Let me tell you. On the instant you will lose your freedom, the +indenture of your bondage will be signed; it will be yours on compulsion +to spend large sums on hurtful pleasures; you will have scarcely a +moment's leisure left for any noble study; you will be driven to concern +yourself most zealously with things which no man, not even a madman, +would choose to make an object of concern. + +Xen. O Heracles! how fell a power to reside in a kiss! + +Soc. Does it surprise you? Do you not know that the tarantula, which is +no bigger than a threepenny bit, (13) has only to touch the mouth and it +will afflict its victim with pains and drive him out of his senses. + + (13) Lit. "a half-obol piece." For the {phalaggion} see Aristot. "H. + A." ix. 39, 1. + +Xen. Yes, but then the creature injects something with its bite. + +Soc. Ah, fool! and do you imagine that these lovely creatures infuse +nothing with their kiss, simply because you do not see the poison? Do +you not know that this wild beast which men call beauty in its bloom is +all the more terrible than the tarantula in that the insect must first +touch its victim, but this at a mere glance of the beholder, without even +contact, will inject something into him--yards away--which will make +him man. And may be that is why the Loves are called "archers," because +these beauties wound so far off. (14) But my advice to you, Xenophon, +is, whenever you catch sight of one of these fair forms, to run +helter-skelter for bare life without a glance behind; and to you, +Critobulus, I would say, "Go abroad for a year: so long time will it +take to heal you of this wound." + + (14) L. Dindorf, etc. regard the sentence as a gloss. Cf. "Symp." iv. + 26 ({isos de kai... entimoteron estin}). + +Such (he said), in the affairs of Aphrodite, as in meats and drinks, +should be the circumspection of all whose footing is insecure. At least +they should confine themselves to such diet as the soul would dispense +with, save for some necessity of the body; and which even so ought +to set up no disturbance. (15) But for himself, it was clear, he was +prepared at all points and invulnerable. He found less difficulty in +abstaining from beauty's fairest and fullest bloom than many others from +weeds and garbage. To sum up: (16) with regard to eating and drinking +and these other temptations of the sense, the equipment of his soul made +him independent; he could boast honestly that in his moderate fashion +(17) his pleasures were no less than theirs who take such trouble to +procure them, and his pains far fewer. + + (15) Cf. "Symp." iv. 38. + + (16) L. Dindorf (brackets) this passage as spurious. + + (17) On the principle "enough is as good as a feast," {arkountos}. + + +IV + +A belief is current, in accordance with views maintained concerning +Socrates in speech and writing, and in either case conjecturally, that, +however powerful he may have been in stimulating men to virtue as a +theorist, he was incapable of acting as their guide himself. (1) It +would be well for those who adopt this view to weigh carefully not only +what Socrates effected "by way of castigation" in cross-questioning +whose who conceived themselves to be possessed of all knowledge, but +also his everyday conversation with those who spent their time in close +intercourse with himself. Having done this, let them decide whether he +was incapable of making his companions better. + + (1) Al. "If any one believes that Socrates, as represented in certain + dialogues (e.g. of Plato, Antisthenes, etc.) of an imaginary + character, was an adept ({protrepsasthai}) in the art of + stimulating people to virtue negatively but scarcely the man to + guide ({proagein}) his hearers on the true path himself." Cf. + (Plat.) "Clitophon," 410 B; Cic. "de Or." I. xlvii. 204; Plut. + "Mor." 798 B. See Grote, "Plato," iii. 21; K. Joel, op. cit. p. 51 + foll.; Cf. below, IV. iii. 2. + +I will first state what I once heard fall from his lips in a discussion +with Aristodemus, (2) "the little," as he was called, on the topic of +divinity. (3) Socrates had observed that Aristodemus neither sacrificed +nor gave heed to divination, but on the contrary was disposed to +ridicule those who did. + + (2) See Plat. "Symp." 173 B: "He was a little fellow who never wore + any shoes, Aristodemus, of the deme of Cydathenaeum."--Jowett. + + (3) Or, "the divine element." + +So tell me, Aristodemus (he began), are there any human beings who have +won your admiration for their wisdom? + +Ar. There are. + +Soc. Would you mention to us their names? + +Ar. In the writings of epic poetry I have the greatest admiration for +Homer.... And as a dithyrambic poet for Melanippides. (4) I admire also +Sophocles as a tragedian, Polycleitus as a sculptor, and Zeuxis as a +painter. + + (4) Melanippides, 430 B.C. See Cobet, "Pros. Xen." s.n. + +Soc. Which would you consider the more worthy of admiration, a fashioner +of senseless images devoid of motion or one who could fashion living +creatures endowed with understanding and activity? + +Ar. Decidedly the latter, provided his living creatures owed their birth +to design and were not the offspring of some chance. + +Soc. But now if you had two sorts of things, the one of which presents +no clue as to what it is for, and the other is obviously for some useful +purpose--which would you judge to be the result of chance, which of +design? + +Ar. Clearly that which is produced for some useful end is the work of +design. + +Soc. Does it not strike you then that he who made man from the beginning +(5) did for some useful end furnish him with his several senses--giving +him eyes to behold the visible word, and ears to catch the intonations +of sound? Or again, what good would there be in odours if nostrils had +not been bestowed upon us? what perception of sweet things and pungent, +and of all the pleasures of the palate, had not a tongue been fashioned +in us as an interpreter of the same? And besides all this, do you +not think this looks like a matter of foresight, this closing of the +delicate orbs of sight with eyelids as with folding doors, which, when +there is need to use them for any purpose, can be thrown wide open and +firmly closed again in sleep? and, that even the winds of heaven may not +visit them too roughly, this planting of the eyelashes as a protecting +screen? (6) this coping of the region above the eyes with cornice-work +of eyebrow so that no drop of sweat fall from the head and injure them? +again this readiness of the ear to catch all sounds and yet not to be +surcharged? this capacity of the front teeth of all animals to cut +and of the "grinders" to receive the food and reduce it to pulp? the +position of the mouth again, close to the eyes and nostrils as a portal +of ingress for all the creature's supplies? and lastly, seeing that +matter passing out (7) of the body is unpleasant, this hindward +direction of the passages, and their removal to a distance from the +avenues of sense? I ask you, when you see all these things constructed +with such show of foresight can you doubt whether they are products of +chance or intelligence? + + (5) Cf. Aristot. "de Part. Animal." 1. For the "teleological" views + see IV. iii. 2 foll. + + (6) "Like a sieve" or "colander." + + (7) "That which goeth out of a man." + +Ar. To be sure not! Viewed in this light they would seem to be the +handiwork of some wise artificer, (8) full of love for all things +living. (9) + + (8) "Demiurge." + + (9) Passage referred to by Epictetus ap. Stob. "Flor." 121, 29. + +Soc. What shall we say of this passion implanted in man to beget +offspring, this passion in the mother to rear her babe, and in the +creature itself, once born, this deep desire of life and fear of death? + +Ar. No doubt these do look like the contrivances of some one +deliberately planning the existence of living creatures. + +Soc. Well, and doubtless you feel to have a spark of wisdom yourself? + +Ar. Put your questions, and I will answer. + +Soc. And yet you imagine that elsewhere no spark of wisdom is to be +found? And that, too, when you know that you have in your body a tiny +fragment only of the mighty earth, a little drop of the great waters, +and of the other elements, vast in their extent, you got, I presume, +a particle of each towards the compacting of your bodily frame? Mind +alone, it would seem, which is nowhere to be found, (10) you had the +lucky chance to snatch up and make off with, you cannot tell how. And +these things around and about us, enormous in size, infinite in number, +owe their orderly arrangement, as you suppose, to some vacuity of wit? + + (10) Cf. Plat. "Phileb." 30 B: "Soc. May our body be said to have a + soul? Pro. Clearly. Soc. And whence comes that soul, my dear + Protarchus, unless the body of the universe, which contains + elements similar to our bodies but finer, has also a soul? Can + there be any other source?"--Jowett. Cic. "de N. D." ii. 6; iii. + 11. + +Ar. It may be, for my eyes fail to see the master agents of these, as +one sees the fabricators of things produced on earth. + +Soc. No more do you see your own soul, which is the master agent of your +body; so that, as far as that goes, you may maintain, if you like, that +you do nothing with intelligence, (11) but everything by chance. + + (11) Or, "by your wit," {gnome}. + +At this point Aristodemus: I assure you, Socrates, that I do not disdain +the Divine power. On the contrary, my belief is that the Divinity is too +grand to need any service which I could render. + +Soc. But the grander that power is, which deigns to tend and wait upon +you, the more you are called upon to honour it. + +Ar. Be well assured, if I could believe the gods take thought for all +men, I would not neglect them. + +Soc. How can you suppose that they do not so take thought? Who, in the +first place, gave to man alone of living creatures his erect posture, +enabling him to see farther in front of him and to contemplate more +freely the height above, and to be less subject to distress than other +creatures (endowed like himself with eyes and ears and mouth). (12) +Consider next how they gave to the beast of the field (13) feet as a +means of progression only, but to man they gave in addition hands--those +hands which have achieved so much to raise us in the scale of happiness +above all animals. Did they not make the tongue also? which belongs +indeed alike to man and beast, but in man they fashioned it so as to +play on different parts of the mouth at different times, whereby we can +produce articulate speech, and have a code of signals to express our +every want to one another. Or consider the pleasures of the sexual +appetite; limited in the rest of the animal kingdom to certain seasons, +but in the case of man a series prolonged unbroken to old age. Nor did +it content the Godhead merely to watch over the interests of man's body. +What is of far higher import, he implanted in man the noblest and most +excellent type of soul. For what other creature, to begin with, has +a soul to appreciate the existence of the gods who have arranged this +grand and beauteous universe? What other tribe of animals save man +can render service to the gods? How apt is the spirit of man to take +precautions against hunger and thirst, cold and heat, to alleviate +disease and foster strength! how suited to labour with a view to +learning! how capable of garnering in the storehouse of his memory all +that he has heard or seen or understood! Is it not most evident to you +that by the side of other animals men live and move a race of gods--by +nature excellent, in beauty of body and of soul supreme? For, mark you, +had a creature of man's wit been encased in the body of an ox, (14) +he would have been powerless to carry out his wishes, just as the +possession of hands divorced from human wit is profitless. And then you +come, you who have obtained these two most precious attributes, and give +it as your opinion, that the gods take no thought or care for you. Why, +what will you have them to do, that you may believe and be persuaded +that you too are in their thoughts? + + (12) See Kuhner for an attempt to cure the text. + + (13) {erpetois}, a "poetical" word. Cf. "Od." iv. 418; Herod. i. 140. + + (14) See Aristot. "de Part. Animal." iv. 10. + +Ar. When they treat me as you tell us they treat you, and send me +counsellors to warn me what I am to do and what abstain from doing, (15) +I will believe. + + (15) See IV. iii. 12. + +Soc. Send you counsellors! Come now, what when the people of Athens make +inquiry by oracle, and the gods' answer comes? Are you not an Athenian? +Think you not that to you also the answer is given? What when they send +portents to forewarn the states of Hellas? or to all mankind? Are you +not a man? a Hellene? Are not these intended for you also? Can it be +that you alone are excepted as a signal instance of Divine neglect? +Again, do you suppose that the gods could have implanted in the heart +of man the belief in their capacity to work him weal or woe had they not +the power? Would not men have discovered the imposture in all this lapse +of time? Do you not perceive that the wisest and most perdurable of +human institutions--be they cities or tribes of men--are ever the most +God-fearing; and in the individual man the riper his age and judgment, +the deeper his religousness? Ay, my good sir (he broke forth), lay to +heart and understand that even as your own mind within you can turn and +dispose of your body as it lists, so ought we to think that the wisdom +which abides within the universal frame does so dispose of all things as +it finds agreeable to itself; for hardly may it be that your eye is able +to range over many a league, but that the eye of God is powerless to +embrace all things at a glance; or that to your soul it is given to +dwell in thought on matters here or far away in Egypt or in Sicily, +but that the wisdom and thought of God is not sufficient to include all +things at one instant under His care. If only you would copy your +own behaviour (16) where human beings are concerned. It is by acts of +service and of kindness that you discover which of your fellows are +willing to requite you in kind. It is by taking another into your +counsel that you arrive at the secret of his wisdom. If, on like +principle, you will but make trial of the gods by acts of service, +whether they will choose to give you counsel in matters obscure to +mortal vision, you shall discover the nature and the greatness of +Godhead to be such that they are able at once to see all things and to +hear all things and to be present everywhere, nor does the least thing +escape their watchful care. + + (16) Or, "reason as you are wont to do." + +To my mind the effect of words like these was to cause those about him +to hold aloof from unholiness, baseness, and injustice, not only whilst +they were seen of men, but even in the solitary place, since they must +believe that no part of their conduct could escape the eye of Heaven. + + +V + +I suppose it may be taken as admitted that self-control is a noble +acquirement for a man. (1) If so, let us turn and consider whether by +language like the following he was likely to lead his listeners onwards +(2) to the attainment of this virtue. "Sirs," he would say, "if a war +came upon us and we wished to choose a man who would best help us to +save ourselves and to subdue our enemy, I suppose we should scarcely +select one whom we knew to be a slave to his belly, to wine, or lust, +and prone to succumb to toil or sleep. Could we expect such an one to +save us or to master our foes? Or if one of us were nearing the end of +his days, and he wished to discover some one to whom he might entrust +his sons for education, his maiden daughters for protection, and his +property in general for preservation, would he deem a libertine worthy +of such offices? Why, no one would dream of entrusting his flocks and +herds, his storehouses and barns, or the superintendence of his works to +the tender mercies of an intemperate slave. If a butler or an errand boy +with such a character were offered to us we would not take him as a free +gift. And if he would not accept an intemperate slave, what pains should +the master himself take to avoid that imputation. (3) For with the +incontinent man it is not as with the self-seeker and the covetous. +These may at any rate be held to enrich themselves in depriving others. +But the intemperate man cannot claim in like fashion to be a blessing +to himself if a curse to his neighbours; nay, the mischief which he +may cause to others is nothing by comparison with that which redounds +against himself, since it is the height of mischief to ruin--I do not +say one's own house and property--but one's own body and one's own soul. +Or to take an example from social intercourse, no one cares for a guest +who evidently takes more pleasure in the wine and the viands than in the +friends beside him--who stints his comrades of the affection due to them +to dote upon a mistress. Does it not come to this, that every honest man +is bound to look upon self-restraint as the very corner-stone of virtue: +(4) which he should seek to lay down as the basis and foundation of his +soul? Without self-restraint who can lay any good lesson to heart or +practise it when learnt in any degree worth speaking of? Or, to put it +conversely, what slave of pleasure will not suffer degeneracy of soul +and body? By Hera, (5) well may every free man pray to be saved from the +service of such a slave; and well too may he who is in bondage to such +pleasures supplicate Heaven to send him good masters, seeing that is the +one hope of salvation left him." + + (1) Lit. "a beautiful and brave possession." + + (2) {proubibaze}. + + (3) Or, "how should the master himself beware lest he fall into that + category." + + (4) {krepida}. See Pind. "Pyth." iv. 138; ib. vii. 3; ib. fr. 93. + + (5) See below, III. x. 9, xi. 5; IV. ii. 9, iv. 8; "Econ." x. 1; + "Cyrop." I. iv. 12; Plat. "Phaedr." 230 B. Cf. Shakesp. "by'r + Lakin." + +Well-tempered words: yet his self-restraint shone forth even more in +his acts than in his language. Not only was he master over the pleasures +which flow from the body, but of those also which are fed by riches, his +belief being that he who receives money from this or that chance donor +sets up over himself a master, and binds himself to an abominable +slavery. + + +VI + +In this context some discussions with Antiphon the sophist (1) deserve +record. Antiphon approaches Socrates in hope of drawing away his +associates, and in their presence thus accosts him. + + (1) {o teratoskopos}, "jealous of Socrates," according to Aristotle + ap. Diog. Laert. II. v. 25. See Cobet, "Pros. Xen." + +Antiphon. Why, Socrates, I always thought it was expected of students of +philosophy to grow in happiness daily; but you seem to have reaped other +fruits from your philosophy. At any rate, you exist, I do not say live, +in a style such as no slave serving under a master would put up with. +Your meat and your drink are of the cheapest sort, and as to clothes, +you cling to one wretched cloak which serves you for summer and winter +alike; and so you go the whole year round, without shoes to your feet +or a shirt to your back. Then again, you are not for taking or making +money, the mere seeking of which is a pleasure, even as the possession +of it adds to the sweetness and independence of existence. I do not know +whether you follow the common rule of teachers, who try to fashion +their pupils in imitation of themselves, (2) and propose to mould the +characters of your companions; but if you do you ought to dub yourself +professor of the art of wretchedness. (3) + + (2) Or, "try to turn out their pupils as copies of themselves." + + (3) See Arist. "Clouds," {on o kakodaimon Sokrates kai Khairephon}. + +Thus challenged, Socrates replied: One thing to me is certain, Antiphon; +you have conceived so vivid an idea of my life of misery that for +yourself you would choose death sooner than live as I do. Suppose now we +turn and consider what it is you find so hard in my life. Is it that he +who takes payment must as a matter of contract finish the work for which +he is paid, whereas I, who do not take it, lie under no constraint to +discourse except with whom I choose? Do you despise my dietary on the +ground that the food which I eat is less wholesome and less stengthening +than yours, or that the articles of my consumption are so scarce and +so much costlier to procure than yours? Or have the fruits of your +marketing a flavour denied to mine? Do you not know the sharper the +appetite the less the need of sauces, the keener the thirst the less the +desire for out-of-the-way drinks? And as to raiment, clothes, you know, +are changed on account of cold or else of heat. People only wear boots +and shoes in order not to gall their feet and be prevented walking. +Now I ask you, have you ever noticed that I keep more within doors than +others on account of the cold? Have you ever seen me battling with +any one for shade on account of the heat? Do you not know that even a +weakling by nature may, by dint of exercise and practice, come to outdo +a giant who neglects his body? He will beat him in the particular point +of training, and bear the strain more easily. But you apparently will +not have it that I, who am for ever training myself to endure this, +that, and the other thing which may befall the body, can brave all +hardships more easily than yourself for instance, who perhaps are not +so practised. And to escape slavery to the belly or to sleep or lechery, +can you suggest more effective means than the possession of some +powerful attraction, some counter-charm which shall gladden not only in +the using, but by the hope enkindled of its lasting usefulness? And yet +this you do know; joy is not to him who feels that he is doing well in +nothing--it belongs to one who is persuaded that things are progressing +with him, be it tillage or the working of a vessel, (4) or any of the +thousand and one things on which a man may chance to be employed. To +him it is given to rejoice as he reflects, "I am doing well." But is +the pleasured derived from all these put together half as joyous as the +consciousness of becoming better oneself, of acquiring better and better +friends? That, for my part, is the belief I continue to cherish. + + (4) "The business of a shipowner or skipper." + +Again, if it be a question of helping one's friends or country, which of +the two will have the larger leisure to devote to these objects--he who +leads the life which I lead to-day, or he who lives in the style which +you deem so fortunate? Which of the two will adopt a soldier's life more +easily--the man who cannot get on without expensive living, or he to +whom whatever comes to hand suffices? Which will be the readier to +capitulate and cry "mercy" in a siege--the man of elaborate wants, or +he who can get along happily with the readiest things to hand? You, +Antiphon, would seem to suggest that happiness consists of luxury and +extravagance; I hold a different creed. To have no wants at all is, to +my mind, an attribute of Godhead; (5) to have as few wants as possible +the nearest approach to Godhead; and as that which is divine is +mightiest, so that is next mightiest which comes closest to the divine. + + (5) Cf. Aristot. "Eth. N." x. viii. 1. + +Returning to the charge at another time, this same Antiphon engaged +Socrates in conversation thus. + +Ant. Socrates, for my part, I believe you to be a good and upright man; +but for your wisdom I cannot say much. I fancy you would hardly dispute +the verdict yourself, since, as I remark, you do not ask a money payment +for your society; and yet if it were your cloak now, or your house, or +any other of your possessions, you would set some value upon it, and +never dream, I will not say of parting with it gratis, but of exchanging +it for less than its worth. A plain proof, to my mind, that if you +thought your society worth anything, you would ask for it not less than +its equivalent in gold. (6) Hence the conclusion to which I have come, +as already stated: good and upright you may be, since you do not +cheat people from pure selfishness; but wise you cannot be, since your +knowledge is not worth a cent. + + (6) Or rather "money," lit. "silver." + +To this onslaught Socrates: Antiphon, it is a tenet which we cling to +that beauty and wisdom have this in common, that there is a fair way and +a foul way in which to dispose of them. The vendor of beauty purchases +an evil name, but supposing the same person has discerned a soul of +beauty in his lover and makes that man his friend, we regard his choice +as sensible. (7) So is it with wisdom; he who sells it for money to the +first bidder we name a sophist, (8) as though one should say a man who +prostitutes his wisdom; but if the same man, discerning the noble nature +of another, shall teach that other every good thing, and make him his +friend, of such a one we say he does that which it is the duty of every +good citizen of gentle soul to do. In accordance with this theory, I +too, Antiphon, having my tastes, even as another finds pleasure in his +horse and his hounds, (9) and another in his fighting cocks, so I too +take my pleasure in good friends; and if I have any good thing myself I +teach it them, or I commend them to others by whom I think they will be +helped forwards on the path of virtue. The treasures also of the wise of +old, written and bequeathed in their books, (10) I unfold and peruse in +common with my friends. If our eye light upon any good thing we cull it +eagerly, and regard it as great gain if we may but grow in friendship +with one another. + + (7) Add "and a sign of modesty," {sophrona nomizomen}. + + (8) {sophistas}. See Grote, "H. G." viii. 482 foll.; "Hunting," xi. + foll. + + (9) Cf. Plat. "Lys." 211 E. + + (10) Cf. "Symp." iv. 27. + +As I listened to this talk I could not but reflect that he, the master, +was a person to be envied, and that we, his hearers, were being led by +him to beauty and nobility of soul. + +Again on some occasion the same Antiphon asked Socrates how he expected +to make politicians of others when, even if he had the knowledge, he did +not engage in politics himself. + +Socrates replied: I will put to you a question, Antiphon: Which were +the more statesmanlike proceeding, to practise politics myself +single-handed, or to devote myself to making as many others as possible +fit to engage in that pursuit? + + +VII + +Let us here turn and consider whether by deterring his associates from +quackery and false seeming he did not directly stimulate them to the +pursuit of virtue. (1) He used often to say there was no better road +to renown than the one by which a man became good at that wherein he +desired to be reputed good. (2) The truth of the concept he enforced as +follows: "Let us reflect on what a man would be driven to do who wanted +to be thought a good flute player, without really being so. He would +be forced to imitate the good flute player in the externals of his art, +would he not? and first or all, seeing that these artists always have +a splendid equipment, (3) and travel about with a long train of +attendants, he must have the same; in the next place, they can command +the plaudits of a multitude, he therefore must pack a conclave of +clackers. But one thing is clear: nothing must induce him to give +a performance, or he will be exposed at once, and find himself a +laughing-stock not only as a sorry sort of flute player, but as a +wretched imposter. And now he has a host of expenses to meet; and not +one advantage to be reaped; and worse than all his evil reputation. What +is left him but to lead a life stale and unprofitable, the scorn and +mockery of men? Let us try another case. Suppose a man wished to be +thought a good general or a good pilot, though he were really nothing of +the sort, let us picture to our minds how it will fare with him. Of two +misfortunes one: either with a strong desire to be thought proficient in +these matters, he will fail to get others to agree with him, which will +be bad enough; or he will succeed, with worse result; since it stands +to reason that anyone appointed to work a vessel or lead an army without +the requisite knowledge will speedily ruin a number of people whom he +least desires to hurt, and will make but a sorry exit from the +stage himself." Thus first by one instance and then another would +he demonstrate the unprofitableness of trying to appear rich, or +courageous, or strong, without really being the thing pretended. "You +are sure sooner or later to have commands laid upon you beyond your +power to execute, and failing just where you are credited with capacity, +the world will give you no commiseration." "I call that man a cheat, and +a great cheat too," he would say, "who gets money or goods out of some +one by persuasion, and defrauds him; but of all imposters he surely is +the biggest who can delude people into thinking that he is fit to lead +the state, when all the while he is a worthless creature." (4) + + (1) {apotrepon proutrepen}. See K. Joel, op. cit. p. 450 foll. + + (2) Cf. "Cyrop." I. vi. 22. + + (3) Or, "furniture of the finest," like Arion's in Herod. i. 24. + Schneid. cf. Demosth. 565. 6. + + (4) Here follows the sentence ({emoi men oun edokei kai tou + alazoneuesthai apotrepein tous sunontas toiade dialegomenos}), + which, for the sake of convenience, I have attached to the first + sentence of Bk. II. ch. i. ({edokei de moi... ponou.}) I + believe that the commentators are right in bracketing both one and + the other as editorial interpolations. + + + + +BOOK II + + +I + +Now, if the effect of such discourses was, as I imagine, to deter his +hearers from the paths of quackery and false-seeming, (1) so I am +sure that language like the following was calculated to stimulate his +followers to practise self-control and endurance: self-control in +the matters of eating, drinking, sleeping, and the cravings of lust; +endurance of cold and heat and toil and pain. He had noticed the undue +licence which one of his acquaintances allowed himself in all such +matters. (2) Accordingly he thus addressed him: + + (1) This sentence in the Greek concludes Bk. I. There is something + wrong or very awkward in the text here. + + (2) Cf. Grote, "Plato," III. xxxviii. p. 530. + +Tell me, Aristippus (Socrates said), supposing you had two children +entrusted to you to educate, one of them must be brought up with an +aptitude for government, and the other without the faintest propensity +to rule--how would you educate them? What do you say? Shall we begin our +inquiry from the beginning, as it were, with the bare elements of food +and nutriment? + +Ar. Yes, food to begin with, by all means, being a first principle, (3) +without which there is no man living but would perish. + + (3) Aristippus plays upon the word {arkhe}. + +Soc. Well, then, we may expect, may we not, that a desire to grasp food +at certain seasons will exhibit itself in both the children? + +Ar. It is to be expected. + +Soc. Which, then, of the two must be trained, of his own free will, (4) +to prosecute a pressing business rather than gratify the belly? + + (4) {proairesis}. + +Ar. No doubt the one who is being trained to govern, if we would not +have affairs of state neglected during (5) his government. + + (5) Lit. "along of." + +Soc. And the same pupil must be furnished with a power of holding out +against thirst also when the craving to quench it comes upon him? + +Ar. Certainly he must. + +Soc. And on which of the two shall we confer such self-control in regard +to sleep as shall enable him to rest late and rise early, or keep vigil, +if the need arise? + +Ar. To the same one of the two must be given that endurance also. + +Soc. Well, and a continence in regard to matters sexual so great that +nothing of the sort shall prevent him from doing his duty? Which of them +claims that? + +Ar. The same one of the pair again. + +Soc. Well, and on which of the two shall be bestowed, as a further gift, +the voluntary resolution to face toils rather than turn and flee from +them? + +Ar. This, too, belongs of right to him who is being trained for +government. + +Soc. Well, and to which of them will it better accord to be taught all +knowledge necessary towards the mastery of antagonists? + +Ar. To our future ruler certainly, for without these parts of learning +all his other capacities will be merely waste. + +Soc. (6)Will not a man so educated be less liable to be entrapped by +rival powers, and so escape a common fate of living creatures, some +of which (as we all know) are hooked through their own greediness, and +often even in spite of a native shyness; but through appetite for +food they are drawn towards the bait, and are caught; while others are +similarly ensnared by drink? + + (6) (SS. 4, 5, L. Dind. ed Lips.) + +Ar. Undoubtedly. + +Soc. And others again are victims of amorous heat, as quails, for +instance, or partridges, which, at the cry of the hen-bird, with +lust and expectation of such joys grow wild, and lose their power of +computing dangers: on they rush, and fall into the snare of the hunter? + +Aristippus assented. + +Soc. And would it not seem to be a base thing for a man to be affected +like the silliest bird or beast? as when the adulterer invades the +innermost sanctum (7) of the house, though he is well aware of the risks +which his crime involves, (8) the formidable penalties of the law, +the danger of being caught in the toils, and then suffering the direst +contumely. Considering all the hideous penalties which hang over the +adulterer's head, considering also the many means at hand to release him +from the thraldom of his passion, that a man should so drive headlong on +to the quicksands of perdition (9)--what are we to say of such frenzy? +The wretch who can so behave must surely be tormented by an evil spirit? +(10) + + (7) {eis as eirktas}. The penetralia. + + (8) Or, "he knows the risks he runs of suffering those penalties with + which the law threatens his crime should he fall into the snare, + and being caught, be mutilated." + + (9) Or, "leap headlong into the jaws of danger." + + (10) {kakodaimonontos}. + +Ar. So it strikes me. + +Soc. And does it not strike you as a sign of strange indifference that, +whereas the greater number of the indispensable affairs of men, as for +instance, those of war and agriculture, and more than half the rest, +need to be conducted under the broad canopy of heaven, (11) yet the +majority of men are quite untrained to wrestle with cold and heat? + + (11) Or, "in the open air." + +Aristippus again assented. + +Soc. And do you not agree that he who is destined to rule must train +himself to bear these things lightly? + +Ar. Most certainly. + +Soc. And whilst we rank those who are self-disciplined in all these +matters among persons fit to rule, we are bound to place those incapable +of such conduct in the category of persons without any pretension +whatsoever to be rulers? + +Ar. I assent. + +Soc. Well, then, since you know the rank peculiar to either section of +mankind, did it ever strike you to consider to which of the two you are +best entitled to belong? + +Yes I have (replied Aristippus). I do not dream for a moment of ranking +myself in the class of those who wish to rule. In fact, considering how +serious a business it is to cater for one's own private needs, I look +upon it as the mark of a fool not to be content with that, but to +further saddle oneself with the duty of providing the rest of the +community with whatever they may be pleased to want. That, at the cost +of much personal enjoyment, a man should put himself at the head of a +state, and then, if he fail to carry through every jot and tittle of +that state's desire, be held to criminal account, does seem to me the +very extravagance of folly. Why, bless me! states claim to treat their +rulers precisely as I treat my domestic slaves. I expect my attendants +to furnish me with an abundance of necessaries, but not to lay a finger +on one of them themselves. So these states regard it as the duty of a +ruler to provide them with all the good things imaginable, but to keep +his own hands off them all the while. (12) So then, for my part, if +anybody desires to have a heap of pother himself, (13) and be a nuisance +to the rest of the world, I will educate him in the manner suggested, +and he shall take his place among those who are fit to rule; but for +myself, I beg to be enrolled amongst those who wish to spend their days +as easily and pleasantly as possible. + + (12) Or, "but he must have no finger in the pie himself." + + (13) See Kuhner ad loc. + +Soc. Shall we then at this point turn and inquire which of the two are +likely to lead the pleasanter life, the rulers or the ruled? + +Ar. By all means let us do so. + +Soc. To begin then with the nations and races known to ourselves. (14) +In Asia the Persians are the rulers, while the Syrians, Phrygians, +Lydians are ruled; and in Europe we find the Scythians ruling, and the +Maeotians being ruled. In Africa (15) the Carthaginians are rulers, the +Libyans ruled. Which of these two sets respectively leads the happier +life, in your opinion? Or, to come nearer home--you are yourself a +Hellene--which among Hellenes enjoy the happier existence, think you, +the dominant or the subject states? + + (14) Or, "the outer world, the non-Hellenic races and nationalities of + which we have any knowledge." + + (15) Lit. "Libya." + +Nay, (16) I would have you to understand (exclaimed Aristippus) that I +am just as far from placing myself in the ranks of slavery; there is, I +take it, a middle path between the two which it is my ambition to tread, +avoiding rule and slavery alike; it lies through freedom--the high road +which leads to happiness. + + (16) Or, "Pardon me interrupting you, Socrates; but I have not the + slightest intention of placing myself." See W. L. Newman, op. cit. + i. 306. + +Soc. True, if only your path could avoid human beings, as it avoids rule +and slavery, there would be something in what you say. But being placed +as you are amidst human beings, if you purpose neither to rule nor to be +ruled, and do not mean to dance attendance, if you can help it, on those +who rule, you must surely see that the stronger have an art to seat the +weaker on the stool of repentance (17) both in public and in private, +and to treat them as slaves. I daresay you have not failed to note this +common case: a set of people has sown and planted, whereupon in comes +another set and cuts their corn and fells their fruit-trees, and in +every way lays siege to them because, though weaker, they refuse to pay +them proper court, till at length they are persuaded to accept slavery +rather than war against their betters. And in private life also, +you will bear me out, the brave and powerful are known to reduce the +helpless and cowardly to bondage, and to make no small profit out of +their victims. + + (17) See "Symp." iii. 11; "Cyrop." II. ii. 14; Plat. "Ion," 535 E; L. + Dindorf ad loc. + +Ar. Yes, but I must tell you I have a simple remedy against all such +misadventures. I do not confine myself to any single civil community. I +roam the wide world a foreigner. + +Soc. Well, now, that is a masterly stroke, upon my word! (18) Of course, +ever since the decease of Sinis, and Sciron, and Procrustes, (19) +foreign travellers have had an easy time of it. But still, if I bethink +me, even in these modern days the members of free communities do +pass laws in their respective countries for self-protection against +wrong-doing. Over and above their personal connections, they provide +themselves with a host of friends; they gird their cities about with +walls and battlements; they collect armaments to ward off evil-doers; +and to make security doubly sure, they furnish themselves with allies +from foreign states. In spite of all which defensive machinery these +same free citizens do occasionally fall victims to injustice. But you, +who are without any of these aids; you, who pass half your days on the +high roads where iniquity is rife; (20) you, who, into whatever city +you enter, are less than the least of its free members, and moreover are +just the sort of person whom any one bent on mischief would single out +for attack--yet you, with your foreigner's passport, are to be +exempt from injury? So you flatter yourself. And why? Will the state +authorities cause proclamation to be made on your behalf: "The person +of this man Aristippus is secure; let his going out and his coming in +be free from danger"? Is that the ground of your confidence? or do you +rather rest secure in the consciousness that you would prove such a +slave as no master would care to keep? For who would care to have in +his house a fellow with so slight a disposition to work and so strong +a propensity to extravagance? Suppose we stop and consider that very +point: how do masters deal with that sort of domestic? If I am not +mistaken, they chastise his wantonness by starvation; they balk his +thieving tendencies by bars and bolts where there is anything to steal; +they hinder him from running away by bonds and imprisonment; they drive +the sluggishness out of him with the lash. Is it not so? Or how do you +proceed when you discover the like tendency in one of your domestics? + + (18) Or, "Well foiled!" "A masterly fall! my prince of wrestlers." + + (19) For these mythical highway robbers, see Diod. iv. 59; and for + Sciron in particular, Plut. "Theseus," 10. + + (20) Or, "where so many suffer wrong." + +Ar. I correct them with all the plagues, till I force them to serve me +properly. But, Socrates, to return to your pupil educated in the royal +art, (21) which, if I mistake not, you hold to be happiness: how, may I +ask, will he be better off than others who lie in evil case, in spite +of themselves, simply because they suffer perforce, but in his case the +hunger and the thirst, the cold shivers and the lying awake at nights, +with all the changes he will ring on pain, are of his own choosing? For +my part I cannot see what difference it makes, provided it is one and +the same bare back which receives the stripes, whether the whipping be +self-appointed or unasked for; nor indeed does it concern my body in +general, provided it be my body, whether I am beleaguered by a whole +armament of such evils (22) of my own will or against my will--except +only for the folly which attaches to self-appointed suffering. + + (21) Cf. below, IV. ii. 11; Plat. "Statesm." 259 B; "Euthyd." 291 C; + K. Joel, op. cit. p. 387 foll. "Aristippus anticipates Adeimantus" + ("Rep." 419), W. L. Newman, op. cit. i. 395. + + (22) Cf. "suffers the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune." + +Soc. What, Aristippus, does it not seem to you that, as regards such +matters, there is all the difference between voluntary and involuntary +suffering, in that he who starves of his own accord can eat when he +chooses, and he who thirsts of his own free will can drink, and so for +the rest; but he who suffers in these ways perforce cannot desist from +the suffering when the humour takes him? Again, he who suffers hardship +voluntarily, gaily confronts his troubles, being buoyed on hope +(23)--just as a hunter in pursuit of wild beasts, through hope of +capturing his quarry, finds toil a pleasure--and these are but prizes of +little worth in return for their labours; but what shall we say of their +reward who toil to obtain to themselves good friends, or to subdue their +enemies, or that through strength of body and soul they may administer +their households well, befriend their friends, and benefit the land +which gave them birth? Must we not suppose that these too will take +their sorrows lightly, looking to these high ends? Must we not suppose +that they too will gaily confront existence, who have to support them +not only their conscious virtue, but the praise and admiration of the +world? (24) And once more, habits of indolence, along with the fleeting +pleasures of the moment, are incapable, as gymnastic trainers say, of +setting up (25) a good habit of body, or of implanting in the soul any +knowledge worthy of account; whereas by painstaking endeavour in the +pursuit of high and noble deeds, as good men tell us, through endurance +we shall in the end attain the goal. So Hesiod somewhere says: (26) + + Wickedness may a man take wholesale with ease, smooth is the way + and her dwelling-place is very nigh; but in front of virtue the + immortal gods have placed toil and sweat, long is the path and + steep that leads to her, and rugged at the first, but when the + summit of the pass is reached, then for all its roughness the path + grows easy. + + (23) Cf. above, I. vi. 8. + + (24) Or, "in admiration of themselves, the praise and envy of the + world at large." + + (25) See Hippocrates, "V. Med." 18. + + (26) Hesiod, "Works and Days," 285. See Plat. "Prot." 340 C; "Rep." + ii. 364 D; "Laws," iv. 718 E. + +And Ephicharmus (27) bears his testimony when he says: + + The gods sell us all good things in return for our labours. + + (27) Epicharmus of Cos, the chief comic poet among the Dorians, fl. + 500 B.C. Cf. Plat. "Theaet." 152 E, "the prince of comedy"; + "Gorg." 505 D. + +And again in another passage he exclaims: + + Set not thine heart on soft things, thou knave, lest thou light + upon the hard. + +And that wise man Prodicus (28) delivers himself in a like strain +concerning virtue in that composition of his about Heracles, which +crowds have listened to. (29) This, as far as I can recollect it, is the +substance at least of what he says: + + (28) Prodicus of Ceos. See Plat. "Men." 24; "Cratyl." 1; Philostr. + "Vit. Soph." i. 12. + + (29) Or, "which he is fond of reciting as a specimen of style." The + title of the {epideixis} was {'Orai} according to Suidas, + {Prodikos}. + +"When Heracles was emerging from boyhood into the bloom of youth, having +reached that season in which the young man, now standing upon the verge +of independence, shows plainly whether he will enter upon the path of +virtue or of vice, he went forth into a quiet place, and sat debating +with himself which of those two paths he should pursue; and as he there +sat musing, there appeared to him two women of great stature which drew +nigh to him. The one was fair to look upon, frank and free by gift +of nature, (30) her limbs adorned with purity and her eyes with +bashfulness; sobriety set the rhythm of her gait, and she was clad in +white apparel. The other was of a different type; the fleshy softness +of her limbs betrayed her nurture, while the complexion of her skin was +embellished that she might appear whiter and rosier than she really +was, and her figure that she might seem taller than nature made her; +she stared with wide-open eyes, and the raiment wherewith she was clad +served but to reveal the ripeness of her bloom. With frequent glances +she surveyed her person, or looked to see if others noticed her; while +ever and anon she fixed her gaze upon the shadow of herself intently. + + (30) Reading {eleutherion phusei,...} or if {eleutherion, + phusei...} translate "nature had adorned her limbs..." + +"Now when these two had drawn near to Heracles, she who was first +named advanced at an even pace (31) towards him, but the other, in her +eagerness to outstrip her, ran forward to the youth, exclaiming, 'I see +you, Heracles, in doubt and difficulty what path of life to choose; make +me your friend, and I will lead you to the pleasantest road and easiest. +This I promise you: you shall taste all of life's sweets and escape all +bitters. In the first place, you shall not trouble your brain with +war or business; other topics shall engage your mind; (32) your only +speculation, what meat or drink you shall find agreeable to your palate; +what delight (33) of ear or eye; what pleasure of smell or touch; what +darling lover's intercourse shall most enrapture you; how you shall +pillow your limbs in softest slumber; how cull each individual pleasure +without alloy of pain; and if ever the suspicion steal upon you that the +stream of joys will one day dwindle, trust me I will not lead you where +you shall replenish the store by toil of body and trouble of soul. No! +others shall labour, but you shall reap the fruit of their labours; you +shall withhold your hand from nought which shall bring you gain. For to +all my followers I give authority and power to help themselves freely +from every side.' + + (31) Or, "without change in her demeanour." + + (32) Reading {diese}, or {dioisei}, "you shall continue speculating + solely." + + (33) It will be recollected that Prodicus prided himself on {orthotes + onomaton}. Possibly Xenophon is imitating (caricaturing?) his + style. {terphtheies, estheies, euphrantheies}. + +"Heracles hearing these words made answer: 'What, O lady, is the name +you bear?' To which she: 'Know that my friends call be Happiness, +but they that hate me have their own nicknames (34) for me, Vice and +Naughtiness.' + + (34) So the vulg. {upokorizomenoi} is interpreted. Cobet ("Pros. Xen." + p. 36) suggests {upoknizomenoi} = "quippe qui desiderio + pungantur." + +"But just then the other of those fair women approached and spoke: +'Heracles, I too am come to you, seeing that your parents are well +known to me, and in your nurture I have gauged your nature; wherefore I +entertain good hope that if you choose the path which leads to me, you +shall greatly bestir yourself to be the doer of many a doughty deed of +noble emprise; and that I too shall be held in even higher honour for +your sake, lit with the lustre shed by valorous deeds. (35) I will not +cheat you with preludings of pleasure, (36) but I will relate to you the +things that are according to the ordinances of God in very truth. Know +then that among things that are lovely and of good report, not one have +the gods bestowed upon mortal men apart from toil and pains. Would +you obtain the favour of the gods, then must you pay these same gods +service; would you be loved by your friends, you must benefit these +friends; do you desire to be honoured by the state, you must give the +state your aid; do you claim admiration for your virtue from all Hellas, +you must strive to do some good to Hellas; do you wish earth to yield +her fruits to you abundantly, to earth must you pay your court; do you +seek to amass riches from your flocks and herds, on them must you bestow +your labour; or is it your ambition to be potent as a warrior, able to +save your friends and to subdue your foes, then must you learn the arts +of war from those who have the knowledge, and practise their application +in the field when learned; or would you e'en be powerful of limb and +body, then must you habituate limbs and body to obey the mind, and +exercise yourself with toil and sweat.' + + (35) Or, "bathed in the splendour of thy virtues." + + (36) Or, "honeyed overtures of pleasure." + +"At this point, (as Prodicus relates) Vice broke in exclaiming: 'See +you, Heracles, how hard and long the road is by which yonder woman would +escort you to her festal joys. (37) But I will guide you by a short and +easy road to happiness.' + + (37) Hesiod, "Theog." 909; Milton, "L'Allegro," 12. + +"Then spoke Virtue: 'Nay, wretched one, what good thing hast thou? or +what sweet thing art thou acquainted with--that wilt stir neither hand +nor foot to gain it? Thou, that mayest not even await the desire of +pleasure, but, or ever that desire springs up, art already satiated; +eating before thou hungerest, and drinking before thou thirsteth; who to +eke out an appetite must invent an army of cooks and confectioners; and +to whet thy thirst must lay down costliest wines, and run up and down +in search of ice in summer-time; to help thy slumbers soft coverlets +suffice not, but couches and feather-beds must be prepared thee and +rockers to rock thee to rest; since desire for sleep in thy case springs +not from toil but from vacuity and nothing in the world to do. Even the +natural appetite of love thou forcest prematurely by every means thou +mayest devise, confounding the sexes in thy service. Thus thou educatest +thy friends: with insult in the night season and drowse of slumber +during the precious hours of the day. Immortal, thou art cast forth +from the company of gods, and by good men art dishonoured: that sweetest +sound of all, the voice of praise, has never thrilled thine ears; and +the fairest of all fair visions is hidden from thine eyes that have +never beheld one bounteous deed wrought by thine own hand. If thou +openest thy lips in speech, who will believe thy word? If thou hast need +of aught, none shall satisfy thee. What sane man will venture to join +thy rablle rout? Ill indeed are thy revellers to look upon, young men +impotent of body, and old men witless in mind: in the heyday of life +they batten in sleek idleness, and wearily do they drag through an age +of wrinkled wretchedness: and why? they blush with shame at the thought +of deeds done in the past, and groan for weariness at what is left to +do. During their youth they ran riot through their sweet things, and +laid up for themselves large store of bitterness against the time of +eld. But my companionship is with the gods; and with the good among men +my conversation; no bounteous deed, divine or human, is wrought without +my aid. Therefore am I honoured in Heaven pre-eminently, and upon +earth among men whose right it is to honour me; (38) as a beloved +fellow-worker of all craftsmen; a faithful guardian of house and lands, +whom the owners bless; a kindly helpmeet of servants; (39) a brave +assistant in the labours of peace; an unflinching ally in the deeds of +war; a sharer in all friendships indispensable. To my friends is given +an enjoyment of meats and drinks, which is sweet in itself and devoid +of trouble, in that they can endure until desire ripens, and sleep more +delicious visits them than those who toil not. Yet they are not pained +to part with it; nor for the sake of slumber do they let slip the +performance of their duties. Among my followers the youth delights in +the praises of his elders, and the old man glories in the honour of the +young; with joy they call to memory their deeds of old, and in to-day's +well-doing are well pleased. For my sake they are dear in the sight +of God, beloved of their friends and honoured by the country of their +birth. When the appointed goal is reached they lie not down in oblivion +with dishonour, but bloom afresh--their praise resounded on the lips of +men for ever. (40) Toils like these, O son of noble parents, Heracles, +it is yours to meet with, and having endured, to enter into the heritage +assured you of transcendant happiness.'" + + (38) Reading {ois prosekei}, or if {proseko}, translate "to whom I am + attached." + + (39) Cf. "Econ." v. 8. + + (40) Or, "so true is it, a branch is left them; undying honour to + their name!" + +This, Aristippus, in rough sketch is the theme which Prodicus pursues +(41) in his "Education of Heracles by Virtue," only he decked out +his sentiments, I admit, in far more magnificent phrases than I have +ventured on. Were it not well, Aristippus, to lay to heart these +sayings, and to strive to bethink you somewhat of that which touches the +future of our life? + + (41) Reading {diokei}, al. {diokei} = "so Prodicus arranged the parts + of his discourse." + + +II + +At another time, he had noticed the angry temper shown by Lamprocles, +the elder of his sons, towards their mother, and thus addressed himself +to the lad. + +Soc. Pray, my son, did you ever hear of certain people being called +ungrateful? + +That I have (replied the young man). + +Soc. And have you understood what it is they do to get that bad name? + +Lamp. Yes, I have: when any one has been kindly treated, and has it in +his power to requite the kindness but neglects to do so, men call him +ungrateful. + +Soc. And you admit that people reckon the ungrateful among wrongdoers? + +Lamp. I do. + +Soc. And has it ever struck you to inquire whether, as regards the right +or wrong of it, ingratitude may not perhaps resemble some such conduct +as the enslavement, say, of prisoners, which is accounted wrong towards +friends but justifiable towards enemies? + +Lamp. Yes, I have put that question to myself. In my opinion, no matter +who confers the kindness, friend or foe, the recipient should endeavour +to requite it, failing which he is a wrongdoer. + +Soc. Then if that is how the matter stands, ingratitude would be an +instance of pure unadulterate wrongdoing? + +Lamprocles assented to the proposition. + +Soc. It follows, then, that in proportion to the greatness of the +benefit conferred, the greater his misdoing who fails to requite the +kindness? + +Lamprocles again assented. + +Socrates continued: And where can we hope to find greater benefits than +those which children derive from their parents--their father and mother +who brought them out of nothingness into being, who granted them to look +upon all these fair sights, and to partake of all those blessings which +the gods bestow on man, things so priceless in our eyes that one and all +we shudder at the thought of leaving them, and states have made death +the penalty for the greatest crimes, because there is no greater evil +through fear of which to stay iniquity. + +You do not suppose that human beings produce children for the sake of +carnal pleasure (1) merely; were this the motive, street and bordell are +full of means to quit them of that thrall; whereas nothing is plainer +than the pains we take to seek out wives who shall bear us the finest +children. (2) With these we wed, and carry on the race. The man has a +twofold duty to perform: partly in cherishing her who is to raise up +children along with him, and partly towards the children yet unborn +in providing them with things that he thinks will contribute to their +well-being--and of these as large a store as possible. The woman, +conceiving, bears her precious burthen with travail and pain, and at the +risk of life itself--sharing with that within her womb the food on which +she herself is fed. And when with much labour she has borne to the end +and brought forth her offspring, she feeds it and watches over it with +tender care--not in return for any good thing previously received, for +indeed the babe itself is little conscious of its benefactor and cannot +even signify its wants; only she, the mother, making conjecture of what +is good for it, and what will please it, essays to satisfy it; (3) +and for many months she feeds it night and day, enduring the toil nor +recking what return she shall receive for all her trouble. Nor does the +care and kindness of parents end with nurture; but when the children +seem of an age to learn, they teach them themselves whatever cunning +they possess, as a guide to life, or where they feel that another is +more competent, to him they send them to be taught at their expense. +Thus they watch over their children, doing all in their power to enable +them to grow up to be as good as possible. + + (1) Lit. "the joys of Aphrodite." + + (2) "For the procreation of children." See below, IV. iv. 22; "Pol. + Lac." i. + + (3) Lit. "to leave nought lacking." + +So be it (the youth answered); but even if she have done all that, +and twenty times as much, no soul on earth could endure my mother's +cross-grained temper. + +Then Socrates: Which, think you, would be harder to bear--a wild beast's +savagery or a mother's? + +Lamp. To my mind, a mother's--at least if she be such as mine. + +Soc. Dear me! And has this mother ever done you any injury--such as +people frequently receive from beasts, by bite or kick? + +Lamp. If she has not done quite that, she uses words which any one would +sooner sell his life than listen to. + +Soc. And how many annoyances have you caused your mother, do you +suppose, by fretfulness and peevishness in word and deed, night and day, +since you were a little boy? How much sorrow and pain, when you were +ill? + +Lamp. Well, I never said or did anything to bring a blush to her cheeks. + +Soc. No, come now! Do you suppose it is harder for you to listen to your +mother's speeches than for actor to listen to actor on the tragic stage, +(4) when the floodgates of abuse are opened? + + (4) See Grote, "H. G." viii. 457; Plut. "Solon," xxix. + +Lamp. Yes; for the simple reason that they know it is all talk on their +parts. The inquisitor may cross-question, but he will not inflict +a fine; the threatener may hurl his menaces, but he will do no +mischief--that is why they take it all so easily. + +Soc. Then ought you to fly into a passion, who know well enough that, +whatever your mother says, she is so far from meaning you mischief that +she is actually wishing blessings to descend upon you beyond all others? +Or do you believe that your mother is really ill disposed towards you? + +Lamp. No, I do not think that. + +Soc. Then this mother, who is kindly disposed to you, and takes such +tender care of you when you are ill to make you well again, and to see +that you want for nothing which may help you; and, more than all, who is +perpetually pleading for blessings in your behalf and offering her vows +to Heaven (5)--can you say of her that she is cross-grained and harsh? +For my part, I think, if you cannot away with such a mother, you cannot +away with such blessings either. + + (5) Or, "paying vows." + +But tell me (he proceeded), do you owe service to any living being, +think you? or are you prepared to stand alone? Prepared not to please or +try to please a single soul? to follow none? To obey neither general nor +ruler of any sort? Is that your attitude, or do you admit that you owe +allegiance to somebody? + +Lamp. Yes; certainly I owe allegiance. + +Soc. May I take it that you are willing to please at any rate your +neighbour, so that he may kindle a fire for you in your need, may prove +himself a ready helpmate in good fortune, or if you chance on evil and +are stumbling, may friendlily stand by your side to aid? + +Lamp. I am willing. + +Soc. Well, and what of that other chance companion--your +fellow-traveller by land or sea? what of any others, you may light upon? +is it indifferent to you whether these be friends or not, or do you +admit that the goodwill of these is worth securing by some pains on your +part? + +Lamp. I do. + +Soc. It stands thus then: you are prepared to pay attention to this, +that, and the other stranger, but to your mother who loves you more than +all else, you are bound to render no service, no allegiance? Do you +not know that whilst the state does not concern itself with ordinary +ingratitude or pass judicial sentence on it; whilst it overlooks the +thanklessness of those who fail to make return for kindly treatment, it +reserves its pains and penalties for the special case? If a man render +not the service and allegiance due to his parents, on him the finger +of the law is laid; his name is struck off the roll; he is forbidden to +hold the archonship--which is as much as to say, "Sacrifices in behalf +of the state offered by such a man would be no offerings, being tainted +with impiety; nor could aught else be 'well and justly' performed +of which he is the doer." Heaven help us! If a man fail to adorn the +sepulchre of his dead parents the state takes cognisance of the matter, +and inquisition is made in the scrutiny of the magistrates. (6) And as +for you, my son, if you are in your sober senses, you will earnestly +entreat your mother, lest the very gods take you to be an ungrateful +being, and on their side also refuse to do you good; and you will beware +of men also, lest they should perceive your neglect of your parents, and +with one consent hold you in dishonour; (7) and so you find yourself in +a desert devoid of friends. For if once the notion be entertained that +here is a man ungrateful to his parents, no one will believe that any +kindness shown you would be other than thrown away. + + (6) Lit. "the docimasia." See Gow, "Companion," xiv. + + (7) "Visiti with atimia." + + +III + +At another time the differences between two brothers named Chaerephon +and Chaerecrates, both well known to him, had drawn his attention; and +on seeing the younger of the two he thus addressed him. + +Soc. Tell me, Chaerecrates, you are not, I take it, one of those strange +people who believe that goods are better and more precious than a +brother; (1) and that too although the former are but senseless chattels +which need protection, the latter a sensitive and sensible being who +can afford it; and what is more, he is himself alone, whilst as for them +their name is legion. And here again is a marvellous thing: that a man +should count his brother a loss, because the goods of his brother are +not his; but he does not count his fellow-citizens loss, and yet their +possessions are not his; only it seems in their case he has wits to see +that to dwell securely with many and have enough is better than to own +the whole wealth of a community and to live in dangerous isolation; but +this same doctrine as applied to brothers they ignore. Again, if a +man have the means, he will purchase domestic slaves, because he wants +assistants in his work; he will acquire friends, because he needs their +support; but this brother of his--who cares about brothers? It seems +a friend may be discovered in an ordinary citizen, but not in a blood +relation who is also a brother. And yet it is a great vantage-ground +towards friendship to have sprung from the same loins and to have been +suckled at the same breasts, since even among beasts a certain natural +craving, and sympathy springs up between creatures reared together. (2) +Added to which, a man who has brothers commands more respect from the +rest of the world than the man who has none, and who must fight his own +battles. (3) + + (1) Cf. "Merchant of Venice," II. viii. 17: "Justice! the law! my + ducats, and my daughter!" + + (2) Or, "a yearning after their foster-brothers manifests itself in + animals." See "Cyrop." VIII. vii. 14 foll. for a parallel to this + discussion. + + (3) Lit. "and is less liable to hostility." + +Chaer. I daresay, Socrates, where the differences are not profound, +reason would a man should bear with his brother, and not avoid him for +some mere trifle's sake, for a brother of the right sort is, as you say, +a blessing; but if he be the very antithesis of that, why should a man +lay his hand to achieve the impossible? + +Soc. Well now, tell me, is there nobody whom Chaerephon can please any +more than he can please yourself; or do some people find him agreeable +enough? + +Chaer. Nay, there you hit it. That is just why I have a right to detest +him. He can be pleasing enough to others, but to me, whenever he appears +on the scene, he is not a blessing--no! but by every manner of means the +reverse. + +Soc. May it not happen that just as a horse is no gain to the inexpert +rider who essays to handle him, so in like manner, if a man tries to +deal with his brother after an ignorant fashion, this same brother will +kick? + +Chaer. But is it likely now? How should I be ignorant of the art of +dealing with my brother if I know the art of repaying kind words and +good deeds in kind? But a man who tries all he can to annoy me by word +and deed, I can neither bless nor benefit, and, what is more, I will not +try. + +Soc. Well now, that is a marvellous statement, Chaerecrates. Your dog, +the serviceable guardian of your flocks, who will fawn and lick the hand +of your shepherd, when you come near him can only growl and show his +teeth. Well; you take no notice of the dog's ill-temper, you try to +propitiate him by kindness; but your brother? If your brother were what +he ought to be, he would be a great blessing to you--that you admit; +and, as you further confess, you know the secret of kind acts and words, +yet you will not set yourself to apply means to make him your best of +friends. + +Chaer. I am afraid, Socrates, that I have no wisdom or cunning to make +Chaerephon bear himself towards me as he should. + +Soc. Yet there is no need to apply any recondite or novel machinery. +Only bait your hook in the way best known to yourself, and you will +capture him; whereupon he will become your devoted friend. + +Chaer. If you are aware that I know some love-charm, Socrates, of which +I am the happy but unconscious possessor, pray make haste and enlighten +me. + +Soc. Answer me then. Suppose you wanted to get some acquaintance to +invite you to dinner when he next keeps holy day, (4) what steps would +you take? + + (4) "When he next does sacrifice"; see "Hiero," viii. 3. Cf. Theophr. + "Char." xv. 2, and Prof. Jebb's note ad loc. + +Chaer. No doubt I should set him a good example by inviting him myself +on a like occasion. + +Soc. And if you wanted to induce some friend to look after your affairs +during your absence abroad, how would you achieve your purpose? + +Chaer. No doubt I should present a precedent in undertaking to look +after his in like circumstances. + +Soc. And if you wished to get some foreign friend to take you under his +roof while visiting his country, what would you do? + +Chaer. No doubt I should begin by offering him the shelter of my own +roof when he came to Athens, in order to enlist his zeal in furthering +the objects of my visit; it is plain I should first show my readiness to +do as much for him in a like case. + +Soc. Why, it seems you are an adept after all in all the philtres known +to man, only you chose to conceal your knowledge all the while; or is +it that you shrink from taking the first step because of the scandal you +will cause by kindly advances to your brother? And yet it is commonly +held to redound to a man's praise to have outstripped an enemy in +mischief or a friend in kindness. Now if it seemed to me that Chaerephon +were better fitted to lead the way towards this friendship, (5) I +should have tried to persuade him to take the first step in winning your +affection, but now I am persuaded the first move belongs to you, and to +you the final victory. + + (5) Reading {pros ten philian}, or if {phusin}, transl. "natural + disposition." + +Chaer. A startling announcement, Socrates, from your lips, and most +unlike you, to bid me the younger take precedence of my elder brother. +Why, it is contrary to the universal custom of mankind, who look to the +elder to take the lead in everything, whether as a speaker or an actor. + +Soc. How so? Is it not the custom everywhere for the younger to step +aside when he meets his elder in the street and to give him place? Is he +not expected to get up and offer him his seat, to pay him the honour of +a soft couch, (6) to yield him precedence in argument? + + (6) Lit. "with a soft bed," or, as we say, "the best bedroom." + +My good fellow, do not stand shilly-shallying, (7) but put out your hand +caressingly, and you will see the worthy soul will respond at once with +alacrity. Do you not note your brother's character, proud and frank and +sensitive to honour? He is not a mean and sorry rascal to be caught by a +bribe--no better way indeed for such riff-raff. No! gentle natures need +a finer treatment. You can best hope to work on them by affection. + + (7) Or, "have no fears, essay a soothing treatment." + +Chaer. But suppose I do, and suppose that, for all my attempts, he shows +no change for the better? + +Soc. At the worst you will have shown yourself to be a good, honest, +brotherly man, and he will appear as a sorry creature on whom kindness +is wasted. But nothing of the sort is going to happen, as I conjecture. +My belief is that as soon as he hears your challenge, he will embrace +the contest; pricked on by emulous pride, he will insist upon getting +the better of you in kindness of word and deed. + +At present you two are in the condition of two hands formed by God to +help each other, but which have let go their business and have turned to +hindering one another all they can. You are a pair of feet fashioned on +the Divine plan to work together, but which have neglected this in order +to trammel each other's gait. Now is it not insensate stupidity (8) to +use for injury what was meant for advantage? And yet in fashioning +two brothers God intends them, methinks, to be of more benefit to one +another than either two hands, or two feet, or two eyes, or any other +of those pairs which belong to man from his birth. (9) Consider how +powerless these hands of ours if called upon to combine their action at +two points more than a single fathom's length apart; (10) and these feet +could not stretch asunder (11) even a bare fathom; and these eyes, for +all the wide-reaching range we claim for them, are incapable of seeing +simultaneously the back and front of an object at even closer quarters. +But a pair of brothers, linked in bonds of amity, can work each for the +other's good, though seas divide them. (12) + + (8) "Boorishness verging upon monomania." + + (9) "With which man is endowed at birth." + + (10) "More than an 'arms'-stretch' asunder." + + (11) Lit. "reach at one stretch two objects, even over that small + distance." + + (12) "Though leagues separate them." + + +IV + +I have at another time heard him discourse on the kindred theme of +friendship in language well calculated, as it seemed to me, to help a +man to choose and also to use his friends aright. + +He (Socrates) had often heard the remark made that of all possessions +there is none equal to that of a good and sincere friend; but, in spite +of this assertion, the mass of people, as far as he could see, concerned +themselves about nothing so little as the acquisition of friends. +Houses, and fields, and slaves, and cattle, and furniture of all sorts +(he said) they were at pains to acquire, and they strove hard to keep +what they had got; but to procure for themselves this greatest of all +blessings, as they admitted a friend to be, or to keep the friends whom +they already possessed, not one man in a hundred ever gave himself a +thought. It was noticeable, in the case of a sickness befalling a man's +friend and one of his own household simultaneously, the promptness with +which the master would fetch the doctor to his domestic, and take every +precaution necessary for his recovery, with much expenditure of pains; +but meanwhile little account would be taken of the friend in like +condition, and if both should die, he will show signs of deep annoyance +at the death of his domestic, which, as he reflects, is a positive loss +to him; but as regards his friend his position is in no wise materially +affected, and thus, though he would never dream of leaving his other +possessions disregarded and ill cared for, friendship's mute appeal is +met with flat indifference. (1) + + (1) Or, "the cry of a friend for careful tending falls on deaf ears." + +Or to take (said he) a crowning instance: (2) with regard to ordinary +possessions, however multifarious these may be, most people are at least +acquainted with their number, but if you ask a man to enumerate his +friends, who are not so very many after all perhaps, he cannot; or if, +to oblige the inquirer, he essays to make a list, he will presently +retract the names of some whom he had previously included. (3) Such is +the amount of thought which people bestow upon their friends. + + (2) Or, "Nor had he failed to observe another striking contrast." Cf. + Cic. "Lael." 17; Diog. Laert. ii. 30. + + (3) i.e. "like a chess-player recalling a move." + +And yet what thing else may a man call his own is comparable to this one +best possession! what rather will not serve by contrast to enhance the +value of an honest friend! Think of a horse or a yoke of oxen; they have +their worth; but who shall gauge the worth of a worthy friend? Kindlier +and more constant than the faithfullest of slaves--this is that +possession best named all-serviceable. (4) Consider what the post is +that he assigns himself! to meet and supplement what is lacking to +the welfare of his friends, to promote their private and their public +interests, is his concern. Is there need of kindly action in any +quarter? he will throw in the full weight of his support. Does some +terror confound? he is at hand to help and defend by expenditure of +money and of energy, (5) by appeals to reason or resort to force. His +the privilege alike to gladden the prosperous in the hour of success and +to sustain their footing who have well-nigh slipped. All that the hands +of a man may minister, all that the eyes of each are swift to see, the +ears to hear, and the feet to compass, he with his helpful arts will not +fall short of. Nay, not seldom that which a man has failed to accomplish +for himself, has missed seeing or hearing or attaining, a friend acting +in behalf of friend will achieve vicariously. And yet, albeit to try and +tend a tree for the sake of its fruit is not uncommon, this copious mine +of wealth--this friend--attracts only a lazy and listless attention on +the part of more than half the world. + + (4) "A vessel fit for all work indeed is this friend." Cf. Ar. "Ach." + 936, {pagkhreston aggos estai}, like the "leather bottel." + + (5) Or, "by dint of his diplomacy." + + +V + +I remember listening to another argument of his, the effect of which +would be to promote self-examination. The listener must needs be brought +to ask himself, "Of what worth am I to my friends?" It happened thus. +One of those who were with him was neglectful, as he noted, of a friend +who was at the pinch of poverty (Antisthenes). (1) Accordingly, in the +presence of the negligent person and of several others, he proceeded to +question the sufferer. + + (1) Antisthenes, "cynicorum et stoicorum parens." Cic. "de Or." iii. + 17; "ad Att." xii. 38. See below, III. iii. 17; "Symp." passim; + Diog. Laert. II. v.; VI. i. + +Soc. What say you, Antisthenes?--have friends their values like domestic +slaves? One of these latter may be worth perhaps two minae, (2) another +only half a mina, a third five, and a fourth as much as ten; while they +do say that Nicias, (3) the son of Niceratus, paid a whole talent for +a superintendent of his silver mines. And so I propound the question to +myself as follows: "Have friends, like slaves, their market values?" + + (2) A mina = L4 circ. + + (3) For Nicias see Thuc. vii. 77 foll.; "Revenues," iv. 14; Plut. + "Nic." IV. v.; Lys. "de bon. Aristoph." 648. + +Not a doubt of it (replied Antisthenes). At any rate, I know that I +would rather have such a one as my friend than be paid two minae, and +there is such another whose worth I would not estimate at half a mina, +and a third with whom I would not part for ten, and then again a fourth +whose friendship would be cheap if it cost me all the wealth and pains +in the world to purchase it. + +Well then (continued Socrates), if that be so, would it not be well if +every one were to examine himself: "What after all may I chance to be +worth to my friends?" Should he not try to become as dear as possible, +so that his friends will not care to give him up? How often do I hear +the complaint: "My friend So-and-so has given me up"; or "Such an one, +whom I looked upon as a friend, has sacrificed me for a mina." And every +time I hear these remarks, the question arises in my mind: If the vendor +of a worthless slave is ready to part with him to a purchaser for what +he will fetch--is there not at least a strong temptation to part with a +base friend when you have a chance of making something on the exchange? +Good slaves, as far as I can see, are not so knocked down to the hammer; +no, nor good friends so lightly parted with. + + +VI + +Again, in reference to the test to be applied, if we would gauge the +qualifications of a friend worth the winning, the following remarks of +Socrates could not fail, I think, to prove instructive. (1) + + (1) Or, "Again, as to establishing a test of character, since a friend + worth having must be of a particular type, I cannot but think that + the following remarks would prove instructive." + +Tell me (said Socrates, addressing Critobulus), supposing we stood in +need of a good friend, how should we set about his discovery? We +must, in the first place, I suppose, seek out one who is master of his +appetites, not under the dominion, that is, of his belly, not addicted +to the wine-cup or to lechery or sleep or idleness, since no one +enslaved to such tyrants could hope to do his duty either by himself or +by his friends, could he? + +Certainly not (Critobulus answered). + +Soc. Do you agree, then, that we must hold aloof from every one so +dominated? + +Cri. Most assuredly. + +Well then (proceeded Socrates), what shall we say of the spendthrift who +has lost his independence and is for ever begging of his neighbours; +if he gets anything out of them he cannot repay, but if he fails to get +anything, he hates you for not giving--do you not think that this man +too would prove but a disagreeable friend? + +Cri. Certainly. + +Soc. Then we must keep away from him too? + +Cri. That we must. + +Soc. Well! and what of the man whose strength lies in monetary +transactions? (2) His one craving is to amass money; and for that reason +he is an adept at driving a hard bargain (3)--glad enough to take in, +but loath to pay out. + + (2) Or, "the money-lender? He has a passion for big money-bags." + + (3) Or, "hard in all his dealings." + +Cri. In my opinion he will prove even a worse fellow than the last. + +Soc. Well! and what of that other whose passion for money-making is so +absorbing that he has no leisure for anything else, save how he may add +to his gains? + +Cri. Hold aloof from him, say I, since there is no good to be got out of +him or his society. + +Soc. Well! what of the quarrelsome and factious person (4) whose main +object is to saddle his friends with a host of enemies? + + (4) "The partisan." + +Cri. For God's sake let us avoid him also. + +Soc. But now we will imagine a man exempt indeed from all the above +defects--a man who has no objection to receive kindnesses, but it never +enters into his head to do a kindness in return. + +Cri. There will be no good in him either. But, Socrates, what kind of +man shall we endeavour to make our friend? what is he like? + +Soc. I should say he must be just the converse of the above: he has +control over the pleasures of the body, he is kindly disposed, (5) +upright in all his dealings, (6) very zealous is he not to be outdone in +kindness by his benefactors, if only his friends may derive some profit +from his acquaintance. + + (5) Reading {eunous}, or if {euorkos}, transl. "a man of his word." + + (6) Or, "easy to deal with." + +Cri. But how are we to test these qualities, Socrates, before +acquaintance? + +Soc. How do we test the merits of a sculptor?--not by inferences drawn +from the talk of the artist merely. No, we look to what he has already +achieved. These former statues of his were nobly executed, and we trust +he will do equally well with the rest. + +Cri. You mean that if we find a man whose kindness to older friends +is established, we may take it as proved that he will treat his newer +friends as amiably? + +Soc. Why, certainly, if I see a man who has shown skill in the handling +of horses previously, I argue that he will handle others no less +skilfully again. + +Cri. Good! and when we have discovered a man whose friendship is worth +having, how ought we to make him our friend? + +Soc. First we ought to ascertain the will of Heaven whether it be +advisable to make him our friend. + +Cri. Well! and how are we to effect the capture of this friend of our +choice, whom the gods approve? will you tell me that? + +Not, in good sooth (replied Socrates), by running him down like a hare, +nor by decoying him like a bird, or by force like a wild boar. (7) To +capture a friend against his will is a toilsome business, and to bind +him in fetters like a slave by no means easy. Those who are so treated +are apt to become foes instead of friends. (8) + + (7) Reading {kaproi}, al. {ekhthroi}, "an enemy." + + (8) Or, "Hate rather than friendship is the outcome of these methods." + +Cri. But how convert them into friends? + +Soc. There are certain incantations, we are told, which those who know +them have only to utter, and they can make friends of whom they list; +and there are certain philtres also which those who have the secret of +them may administer to whom they like and win their love. + +Cri. From what source shall we learn them? + +Soc. You need not go farther than Homer to learn that which the Sirens +sang to Odysseus, (9) the first words of which run, I think, as follows: + + Hither, come hither, thou famous man, Odysseus, great glory of the + Achaeans! + + (9) "Od." xii. 184. + +Cri. And did the magic words of this spell serve for all men alike? Had +the Sirens only to utter this one incantation, and was every listener +constrained to stay? + +Soc. No; this was the incantation reserved for souls athirst for fame, +of virtue emulous. + +Cri. Which is as much as to say, we must suit the incantation to the +listener, so that when he hears the words he shall not think that the +enchanter is laughing at him in his sleeve. I cannot certainly conceive +a method better calculated to excite hatred and repulsion than to go +to some one who knows that he is small and ugly and a weakling, and to +breathe in his ears the flattering tale that he is beautiful and tall +and stalwart. But do you know any other love-charms, Socrates? + +Soc. I cannot say that I do; but I have heard that Pericles (10) was +skilled in not a few, which he poured into the ear of our city and won +her love. + + (10) See above, I. ii. 40; "Symp." viii. 39. + +Cri. And how did Themistocles (11) win our city's love? + + (11) See below, III. vi. 2; IV. ii. 2. + +Soc. Ah, that was not by incantation at all. What he did was to encircle +our city with an amulet of saving virtue. (12) + + (12) See Herod. vii. 143, "the wooden wall"; Thuc. i. 93, "'the walls' + of Athens." + +Cri. You would imply, Socrates, would you not, that if we want to win +the love of any good man we need to be good ourselves in speech and +action? + +And did you imagine (replied Socrates) that it was possible for a bad +man to make good friends? + +Cri. Why, I could fancy I had seen some sorry speech-monger who was fast +friends with a great and noble statesman; or again, some born commander +and general who was boon companion with fellows quite incapable of +generalship. (13) + + (13) Or, "Why, yes, when I see some base orator fast friends with a + great leader of the people; or, again, some fellow incapable of + generalship a comrade to the greatest captains of his age." + +Soc. But in reference to the point we were discussing, may I ask whether +you know of any one who can attach a useful friend to himself without +being of use in return? (14) Can service ally in friendship with +disservice? + + (14) Add, "Can service ally in friendship with disservice? Must there + not be a reciprocity of service to make friendship lasting?" + +Cri. In good sooth no. But now, granted it is impossible for a base man +to be friends with the beautiful and noble, (14) I am concerned at once +to discover if one who is himself of a beautiful and noble character +can, with a wave of the hand, as it were, attach himself in friendship +to every other beautiful and noble nature. + + (14) {kalous kagathous}. + +Soc. What perplexes and confounds you, Critobulus, is the fact that +so often men of noble conduct, with souls aloof from baseness, are not +friends but rather at strife and discord with one another, and deal more +harshly by one another than they would by the most good-for-nothing of +mankind. + +Cri. Yes, and this holds true not of private persons only, but states, +the most eager to pursue a noble policy and to repudiate a base one, +are frequently in hostile relation to one another. As I reason on +these things my heart fails me, and the question, how friends are to +be acquired, fills me with despondency. The bad, as I see, cannot be +friends with one another. For how can such people, the ungrateful, or +reckless, or covetous, or faithless, or incontinent, adhere together as +friends? Without hesitation I set down the bad as born to be foes not +friends, and as bearing the birthmark of internecine hate. But then +again, as you suggest, no more can these same people harmonise in +friendship with the good. For how should they who do evil be friends +with those who hate all evil-doing? And if, last of all, they that +cultivate virtue are torn by party strife in their struggle for the +headship of the states, envying one another, hating one another, who are +left to be friends? where shall goodwill and faithfulness be found among +men? + +Soc. The fact is there is some subtlety in the texture of these things. +(15) Seeds of love are implanted in man by nature. Men have need of +one another, feel pity, help each other by united efforts, and in +recognition of the fact show mutual gratitude. But there are seeds of +war implanted also. The same objects being regarded as beautiful or +agreeable by all alike, they do battle for their possession; a spirit of +disunion (16) enters, and the parties range themselves in adverse camps. +Discord and anger sound a note of war: the passion of more-having, +staunchless avarice, threatens hostility; and envy is a hateful fiend. +(17) + + (15) i.e. a cunning intertwining of the threads of warp and woof. + + (16) Cf. Shelley, "The devil of disunion in their souls." + + (17) The diction is poetical. + +But nevertheless, through all opposing barriers friendship steals her +way and binds together the beautiful and good among mankind. (18) Such +is their virtue that they would rather possess scant means painlessly +than wield an empire won by war. In spite of hunger and thirst they will +share their meat and drink without a pang. Not bloom of lusty youth, nor +love's delights can warp their self-control; nor will they be tempted +to cause pain where pain should be unknown. It is theirs not merely +to eschew all greed of riches, not merely to make a just and lawful +distribution of wealth, but to supply what is lacking to the needs of +one another. Theirs it is to compose strife and discord not in painless +oblivion simply, but to the general advantage. Theirs also to hinder +such extravagance of anger as shall entail remorse hereafter. And as to +envy they will make a clean sweep and clearance of it: the good things +which a man possesses shall be also the property of his friends, and the +goods which they possess are to be looked upon as his. Where then is +the improbability that the beautiful and noble should be sharers in the +honours (19) of the state not only without injury, but even to their +mutual advantage? + + (18) Or, as we say, "the elite of human kind." + + (19) "And the offices." + +They indeed who covet and desire the honours and offices in a state +for the sake of the liberty thereby given them to embezzle the public +moneys, to deal violently by their fellow-creatures, and to batten in +luxury themselves, may well be regarded as unjust and villainous persons +incapable of harmony with one another. But if a man desire to obtain +these selfsame honours in order that, being himself secure against +wrong-doing, he may be able to assist his friends in what is right, and, +raised to a high position, (20) may essay to confer some blessing on the +land of his fathers, what is there to hinder him from working in harmony +with some other of a like spirit? Will he, with the "beautiful and +noble" at his side, be less able to aid his friends? or will his +power to benefit the community be shortened because the flower of that +community are fellow-workers in that work? Why, even in the contests +of the games it is obvious that if it were possible for the stoutest +combatants to combine against the weakest, the chosen band would come +off victors in every bout, and would carry off all the prizes. This +indeed is against the rules of the actual arena; but in the field of +politics, where the beautiful and good hold empery, and there is nought +to hinder any from combining with whomsoever a man may choose to benefit +the state, it will be a clear gain, will it not, for any one engaged +in state affairs to make the best men his friends, whereby he will find +partners and co-operators in his aims instead of rivals and antagonists? +And this at least is obvious: in case of foreign war a man will need +allies, but all the more if in the ranks opposed to him should stand the +flower of the enemy. (21) Moreover, those who are willing to fight +your battles must be kindly dealt with, that goodwill may quicken to +enthusiasm; and one good man (22) is better worth your benefiting that a +dozen knaves, since a little kindness goes a long way with the good, but +with the base the more you give them the more they ask for. + + (20) "As archon," or "raised to rule." + + (21) Lit. "the beautiful and good." + + (22) Or, "the best, though few, are better worth your benefiting than + the many base." + +So keep a good heart, Critobulus; only try to become good yourself, and +when you have attained, set to your hand to capture the beautiful and +good. Perhaps I may be able to give you some help in this quest, being +myself an adept in Love's lore. (23) No matter who it is for whom my +heart is aflame; in an instant my whole soul is eager to leap forth. +With vehemence I speed to the mark. I, who love, demand to be loved +again; this desire in me must be met by counter desire in him; this +thirst for his society by thirst reciprocal for mine. And these will +be your needs also, I foresee, whenever you are seized with longing to +contract a friendship. Do not hide from me, therefore, whom you would +choose as a friend, since, owing to the pains I take to please him +who pleases me, I am not altogether unversed, I fancy, in the art of +catching men. (24) + + (23) "An authority in matters of love." Cf. Plat. "Symp." 177 D; Xen. + "Symp." viii. 2. + + (24) See below, III. xi. 7; cf. Plat. "Soph." 222; N. T. Matt. iv. 19, + {alieis anthropon}. + +Critobulus replied: Why, these are the very lessons of instruction, +Socrates, for which I have been long athirst, and the more particularly +if this same love's lore will enable me to capture those who are good of +soul and those who are beautiful of person. + +Soc. Nay, now I warn you, Critobulus, it is not within the province of +my science to make the beautiful endure him who would lay hands upon +them. And that is why men fled from Scylla, I am persuaded, because she +laid hands upon them; but the Sirens were different--they laid hands on +nobody, but sat afar off and chanted their spells in the ears of all; +and therefore, it is said, all men endured to listen, and were charmed. + +Cri. I promise I will not lay violent hands on any; therefore, if you +have any good device for winning friends, instruct your pupil. + +Soc. And if there is to be no laying on of the hands, there must be no +application either of the lips; is it agreed? + +Cri. No, nor application of the lips to any one--not beautiful. + +Soc. See now! you cannot open your mouth without some luckless +utterance. Beauty suffers no such liberty, however eagerly the ugly may +invite it, making believe some quality of soul must rank them with the +beautiful. + +Cri. Be of good cheer then; let the compact stand thus: "Kisses for the +beautiful, and for the good a rain of kisses." So now teach us the art +of catching friends. + +Soc. Well then, when you wish to win some one's affection, you will +allow me to lodge information against you to the effect that you admire +him and desire to be his friend? + +Cri. Lodge the indictment, with all my heart. I never heard of any one +who hated his admirers. + +Soc. And if I add to the indictment the further charge that through your +admiration you are kindly disposed towards him, you will not feel I am +taking away your character? + +Cri. Why, no; for myself I know a kindly feeling springs up in my heart +towards any one whom I conceive to be kindly disposed to me. + +Soc. All this I shall feel empowered to say about you to those whose +friendship you seek, and I can promise further help; only there is a +comprehensive "if" to be considered: if you will further authorise me to +say that you are devoted to your friends; that nothing gives you so much +joy as a good friend; that you pride yourself no less on the fine deeds +of those you love than on your own; and on their good things equally +with your own; that you never weary of plotting and planning to procure +them a rich harvest of the same; and lastly, that you have discovered +a man's virtue is to excel his friends in kindness and his foes in +hostility. If I am authorised thus to report of you, I think you will +find me a serviceable fellow-hunter in the quest of friends, which is +the conquest of the good. + +Cri. Why this appeal to me?--as if you had not free permission to say +exactly what you like about me. + +Soc. No; that I deny, on the authority of Aspasia. (25) I have it from +her own lips. "Good matchmakers," she said tome, "were clever hands at +cementing alliances between people, provided the good qualities they +vouched for were truthfully reported; but when it came to their telling +lies, for her part she could not compliment them. (26) Their poor +deluded dupes ended by hating each other and the go-betweens as well." +Now I myself am so fully persuaded of the truth of this that I feel it +is not in my power to say aught in your praise which I cannot say with +truth. + + (25) Aspasia, daughter of Axiochus, of Miletus. See "Econ." iii. 14; + Plat. "Menex." 235 E; Aesch. Socrat. ap. Cic. "de Invent." I. + xxxi. 51. See Grote, "H. G." vi. 132 foll.; Cobet, "Pros. Xen." + + (26) Reading {ouk ethelein epainein}, or if {ouk ophelein epainousas} + with Kuhner transl. "Good matchmakers, she told me, have to + consult truth when reporting favourably of any one: then indeed + they are terribly clever at bringing people together: whereas + false flatterers do no good; their dupes," etc. + +Cri. Really, Socrates, you are a wonderfully good friend to me--in so +far as I have any merit which will entitle me to win a friend, you will +lend me a helping hand, it seems; otherwise you would rather not forge +any petty fiction for my benefit. + +Soc. But tell me, how shall I assist you best, think you? By praising +you falsely or by persuading you to try to be a good man? Or if it is +not plain to you thus, look at the matter by the light of some examples. +I wish to introduce you to a shipowner, or to make him your friend: I +begin by singing your praises to him falsely thus, "You will find him a +good pilot"; he catches at the phrase, and entrusts his ship to you, +who have no notion of guiding a vessel. What can you expect but to make +shipwreck of the craft and yourself together? or suppose by similar +false assertions I can persuade the state at large to entrust her +destinies to you--"a man with a fine genius for command," I say, "a +practised lawyer," "a politician born," and so forth. The odds are, the +state and you may come to grief through you. Or to take an instance +from everyday life. By my falsehoods I persuade some private person to +entrust his affairs to you as "a really careful and business-like +person with a head for economy." When put to the test would not your +administration prove ruinous, and the figure you cut ridiculous? No, my +dear friend, there is but one road, the shortest, safest, best, and it +is simply this: In whatsoever you desire to be deemed good, endeavour +to be good. For of all the virtues namable among men, consider, and +you will find there is not one but may be increased by learning and +practice. For my part then, Critobulus, these are the principles on +which we ought to go a-hunting; but if you take a different view, I am +all attention, please instruct me. + +Then Critobulus: Nay, Socrates, I should be ashamed to gainsay what you +have said; if I did, it would neither be a noble statement nor a true. +(27) + + (27) {kala... alethe}. + + +VII + +He had two ways of dealing with the difficulties of his friends: where +ignorance was the cause, he tried to meet the trouble by a dose of +common sense; or where want and poverty were to blame, by lessoning them +that they should assist one another according to their ability; and here +I may mention certain incidents which occurred within my own knowledge. +How, for instance, he chanced upon Aristarchus wearing the look of one +who suffered from a fit of the "sullens," and thus accosted him. + +Soc. You seem to have some trouble on your mind, Aristarchus; if so, you +should share it with your friends. Perhaps together we might lighten the +weight of it a little. + +Aristarchus answered: Yes, Socrates, I am in sore straits indeed. Ever +since the party strife declared itself in the city, (1) what with the +rush of people to Piraeus, and the wholesale banishments, I have been +fairly at the mercy of my poor deserted female relatives. Sisters, +nieces, cousins, they have all come flocking to me for protection. I +have fourteen free-born souls, I tell you, under my single roof, and how +are we to live? We can get nothing out of the soil--that is in the hands +of the enemy; nothing from my house property, for there is scarcely a +living soul left in the city; my furniture? no one will buy it; money? +there is none to be borrowed--you would have a better chance to find +it by looking for it on the road than to borrow it from a banker. Yes, +Socrates, to stand by and see one's relatives die of hunger is hard +indeed, and yet to feed so many at such a pinch impossible. + + (1) i.e. circa 404-403 B.C. See "Hell." II. iv. + +After he listened to the story, Socrates asked: How comes it that +Ceramon, (2) with so many mouths to feed, not only contrives to furnish +himself and them with the necessaries of life, but to realise a handsome +surplus, whilst you being in like plight (3) are afraid you will one and +all perish of starvation for want of the necessaries of life? + + (2) An employer of labour, apparently, on a grand scale. + + (3) Lit. "with your large family to feed." L. Dindorf would like to + read {su de oligous}, "you with your small family." + +Ar. Why, bless your soul, do you not see he has only slaves and I have +free-born souls to feed? + +Soc. And which should you say were the better human beings, the +free-born members of your household or Ceramon's slaves? + +Ar. The free souls under my roof without a doubt. + +Soc. Is it not a shame, then, that he with his baser folk to back +him should be in easy circumstances, while you and your far superior +household are in difficulties? + +Ar. To be sure it is, when he has only a set of handicraftsmen to feed, +and I my liberally-educated household. + +Soc. What is a handicraftsman? Does not the term apply to all who can +make any sort of useful product or commodity? + +Ar. Certainly. + +Soc. Barley meal is a useful product, is it not? + +Ar. Pre-eminently so. + +Soc. And loaves of bread? + +Ar. No less. + +Soc. Well, and what do you say to cloaks for men and for women--tunics, +mantles, vests? (4) + + (4) For these articles of dress see Becker's "Charicles," Exc. i. to + Sc. xi. "Dress." + +Ar. Yes, they are all highly useful commodities. + +Soc. Then your household do not know how to make any of these? + +Ar. On the contrary, I believe they can make them all. + +Soc. Then you are not aware that by means of the manufacture of one of +these alone--his barley meal store--Nausicydes (5) not only maintains +himself and his domestics, but many pigs and cattle besides, and +realises such large profits that he frequently contributes to the state +benevolences; (6) while there is Cyrebus, again, who, out of a bread +factory, more than maintains the whole of his establishment, and lives +in the lap of luxury; and Demeas of Collytus gets a livelihood out of +a cloak business, and Menon as a mantua-maker, and so, again, more than +half the Megarians (7) by the making of vests. + + (5) Nausicydes. Cobet, "Pros. Xen." cf. Aristoph. "Eccles." 426. + + (6) Lit. "state liturgies," or "to the burden of the public services." + For these see Gow, "Companion," xviii. "Athenian Finance." + + (7) Cf. Arist. "Acharnians," 519, {esukophantei Megareon ta + khlaniskia}. See Dr. Merry's note ad loc. + +Ar. Bless me, yes! They have got a set of barbarian fellows, whom they +purchase and keep, to manufacture by forced labour whatever takes their +fancy. My kinswomen, I need not tell you, are free-born ladies. + +Soc. Then, on the ground that they are free-born and your kinswomen, +you think that they ought to do nothing but eat and sleep? Or is it your +opinion that people who live in this way--I speak of free-born people +in general--lead happier lives, and are more to be congratulated, than +those who give their time and attention to such useful arts of life as +they are skilled in? Is this what you see in the world, that for the +purpose of learning what it is well to know, and of recollecting the +lessons taught, or with a view to health and strength of body, or for +the sake of acquiring and preserving all that gives life its charm, +idleness and inattention are found to be helpful, whilst work and study +are simply a dead loss? Pray, when those relatives of yours were taught +what you tell me they know, did they learn it as barren information +which they would never turn to practical account, or, on the contrary, +as something with which they were to be seriously concerned some day, +and from which they were to reap advantage? Do human beings in general +attain to well-tempered manhood by a course of idling, or by carefully +attending to what will be of use? Which will help a man the more to grow +in justice and uprightness, to be up and doing, or to sit with folded +hands revolving the ways and means of existence? As things now stand, +if I am not mistaken, there is no love lost between you. You cannot help +feeling that they are costly to you, and they must see that you find +them a burthen? This is a perilous state of affairs, in which hatred and +bitterness have every prospect of increasing, whilst the pre-existing +bond of affection (8) is likely to be snapped. + + (8) Or, "the original stock of kindliness will be used up." + +But now, if only you allow them free scope for their energies, when you +come to see how useful they can be, you will grow quite fond of them, +and they, when they perceive that they can please you, will cling to +their benefactor warmly. Thus, with the memory of former kindnesses +made sweeter, you will increase the grace which flows from kindnesses +tenfold; you will in consequence be knit in closer bonds of love and +domesticity. If, indeed, they were called upon to do any shameful work, +let them choose death rather than that; but now they know, it would +seem, the very arts and accomplishments which are regarded as the +loveliest and the most suitable for women; and the things which we know, +any of us, are just those which we can best perform, that is to say, +with ease and expedition; it is a joy to do them, and the result is +beautiful. (9) Do not hesitate, then, to initiate your friends in what +will bring advantage to them and you alike; probably they will gladly +respond to your summons. + + (9) Or, "with ease, rapidity, pleasure and effect." + +Well, upon my word (Aristarchus answered), I like so well what you +say, Socrates, that though hitherto I have not been disposed to borrow, +knowing that when I had spent what I got I should not be in a condition +to repay, I think I can now bring myself to do so in order to raise a +fund for these works. + +Thereupon a capital was provided; wools were purchased; the good man's +relatives set to work, and even whilst they breakfasted they worked, and +on and on till work was ended and they supped. Smiles took the place of +frowns; they no longer looked askance with suspicion, but full into each +other's eyes with happiness. They loved their kinsman for his kindness +to them. He became attached to them as helpmates; and the end of it all +was, he came to Socrates and told him with delight how matters fared; +"and now," he added, "they tax me with being the only drone in the +house, who sit and eat the bread of idleness." + +To which Socrates: Why do not you tell them the fable of the dog? (10) +Once on a time, so goes the story, when beasts could speak, the sheep +said to her master, "What a marvel is this, master, that to us, your +own sheep, who provide you with fleeces and lambs and cheese, you give +nothing, save only what we may nibble off earth's bosom; but with this +dog of yours, who provides you with nothing of the sort, you share +the very meat out of your mouth." When the dog heard these words, he +answered promptly, "Ay, in good sooth, for is it not I who keep you safe +and sound, you sheep, so that you are not stolen by man nor harried by +wolves; since, if I did not keep watch over you, you would not be able +so much as to graze afield, fearing to be destroyed." And so, says +the tale, the sheep had to admit that the dog was rightly preferred to +themselves in honour. And so do you tell your flock yonder that like the +dog in the fable you are their guardian and overseer, and it is thanks +to you that they are protected from evil and evildoers, so that they +work their work and live their lives in blissful security. + + (10) See Joseph Jacobs, "The Fables of Aesop," vol. i. p. 26 foll., + for "a complete list of the Fables given in Greek literature up to + the fall of Greek independence." Cf. Hesiod, "Works and Days," 202 + foll.; Archilochus, 89 (60), Bergk; Herod. i. 141; Aesch. + "Myrmid." fr. 123; Aristot. "Rhet." II. xx. + + +VIII + +At another time chancing upon an old friend whom he had not seen for a +long while, he greeted him thus. + +Soc. What quarter of the world do you hail from, Eutherus? + +The other answered: From abroad, just before the close of the war; but +at present from the city itself. (1) You see, since we have been denuded +of our possessions across the frontier, (2) and my father left me +nothing in Attica, I must needs bide at home, and provide myself with +the necessaries of life by means of bodily toil, which seems preferable +to begging from another, especially as I have no security on which to +raise a loan. + + (1) Lit. "from here." The conversation perhaps takes place in Piraeus + 404 B.C. + + (2) Or, "colonial possession." Cf. "Symp." iv. 31. + +Soc. And how long do you expect your body to be equal to providing the +necessaries of life for hire? + +Euth. Goodness knows, Socrates--not for long. + +Soc. And when you find yourself an old man, expenses will not diminish, +and yet no one will care to pay you for the labour of your hands. + +Euth. That is true. + +Soc. Would it not be better then to apply yourself at once to such +work as will stand you in good stead when you are old--that is, address +yourself to some large proprietor who needs an assistant in managing his +estate? (3) By superintending his works, helping to get in his crops, +and guarding his property in general, you will be a benefit to the +estate and be benefited in return. + + (3) Cf. "Cyrop." VIII. iii. 48. + +I could not endure the yoke of slavery, Socrates! (he exclaimed). + +Soc. And yet the heads of departments in a state are not regarded as +adopting the badge of slavery because they manage the public property, +but as having attained a higher degree of freedom rather. + +Euth. In a word, Socrates, the idea of being held to account to another +is not at all to my taste. + +Soc. And yet, Eutherus, it would be hard to find a work which did +not involve some liability to account; in fact it is difficult to do +anything without some mistake or other, and no less difficult, if +you should succeed in doing it immaculately, to escape all unfriendly +criticism. I wonder now whether you find it easy to get through your +present occupations entirely without reproach. No? Let me tell you what +you should do. You should avoid censorious persons and attach yourself +to the considerate and kind-hearted, and in all your affairs accept +with a good grace what you can and decline what you feel you cannot do. +Whatever it be, do it heart and soul, and make it your finest work. (4) +There lies the method at once to silence fault-finders and to minister +help to your own difficulties. Life will flow smoothly, risks will be +diminished, provision against old age secured. + + (4) Or, "study to make it your finest work, the expression of a real + enthusiasm." + + +IX + +At another time, as I am aware, he had heard a remark made by Crito (1) +that life at Athens was no easy matter for a man who wished to mind his +own affairs. + + (1) Crito. See above, I. ii. 48; Cobet, "P. X."; cf. Plat. "Rep." + viii. 549 C. + +As, for instance, at this moment (Crito proceeded) there are a set +of fellows threatening me with lawsuits, not because they have any +misdemeanour to allege against me, but simply under the conviction that +I will sooner pay a sum of money than be troubled further. + +To which Socrates replied: Tell me, Crito, you keep dogs, do you not, to +ward off wolves from your flocks? + +Cr. Certainly; it pays to do so. + +Soc. Then why do you not keep a watchman willing and competent to ward +off this pack of people who seek to injure you? + +I should not at all mind (he answered), if I were not afraid he might +turn again and rend his keeper. + +What! (rejoined Socrates), do you not see that to gratify a man like +yourself is far pleasanter as a matter of self-interest than to quarrel +with you? You may be sure there are plenty of people here who will take +the greatest pride in making you their friend. + +Accordingly, they sought out Archedemus, (2) a practical man with a +clever tongue in his head (3) but poor; the fact being, he was not the +sort to make gain by hook or by crook, but a lover of honesty and of +too good a nature himself to make his living as a pettifogger. (4) Crito +would then take the opportunity of times of harvesting and put aside +small presents for Achedemus of corn and oil, or wine, or wool, or any +other of the farm produce forming the staple commodities of life, or he +would invite him to a sacrificial feast, and otherwise pay him marked +attention. Archedemus, feeling that he had in Crito's house a harbour +of refuge, could not make too much of his patron, and ere long he +had hunted up a long list of iniquities which could be lodged against +Crito's pettifogging persecutors themselves, and not only their numerous +crimes but their numerous enemies; and presently he prosecuted one of +them in a public suit, where sentence would be given against him "what +to suffer or what to pay." (5) The accused, conscious as he was of +many rascally deeds, did all he could to be quit of Archedemus, but +Archedemus was not to be got rid of. He held on until he had made the +informer not only loose his hold of Crito but pay himself a sum of +money; and now that Archedemus had achieved this and other similar +victories, it is easy to guess what followed. (6) It was just as when +some shepherd has got a very good dog, all the other shepherds wish +to lodge their flocks in his neighbourhood that they too may reap the +benefit of him. So a number of Crito's friends came begging him to allow +Archedemus to be their guardian also, and Archedemus was overjoyed to +do something to gratify Crito, and so it came about that not only Crito +abode in peace, but his friends likewise. If any of those people with +whom Archedemus was not on the best of terms were disposed to throw +it in his teeth that he accepted his patron's benefits and paid in +flatteries, he had a ready retort: "Answer me this question--which is +the more scandalous, to accept kindnesses from honest folk and to repay +them, with the result that I make such people my friends but quarrel +with knaves, or to make enemies of honourable gentlemen (7) by attempts +to do them wrong, with the off-chance indeed of winning the friendship +of some scamps in return for my co-operation, but the certainty of +losing in the tone of my acquaintances?" (8) + + (2) Archedemus, possibly the demagogue, "Hell." I. vii. 2. So Cobet, + "P. X.," but see Grote, "H. G." viii. 245. + + (3) Lit. "very capable of speech and action"--the writer's favourite + formula for the well-trained Athenian who can speak fluently and + reason clearly, and act energetically and opportunely. + + (4) Reading {kai euphuesteros on} (or {e os})... {apo sukophanton} + (or {sukophantion}), after Cobet, "P. X." s.v. Archedemus. The + MSS. give {kai ephe raston einai}--"nothing is easier," he said, + "than recovering from sycophants." + + (5) For this formula cf. "Econ." vi. 24. Cf. Plat. "Statesm." 299 A. + + (6) {ede tote}. Cf. Plat. "Laws," vi. 778 C. + + (7) Lit. the {kaloi kagathoi}, which like {khrestous} and {ponerous} + has a political as well as an ethical meaning. + + (8) Lit. "must associate with these (the {ponerois}) instead of those + (the {kalois te kagathois}). + +The net result of the whole proceedings was that Archedemus was now +Crito's right hand, (9) and by the rest of Crito's friends he was held +in honour. + + (9) He was No. 1--{eis}. + + +X + +Again I may cite, as known to myself, (1) the following discussion; the +arguments were addressed to Diodorus, one of his companions. The master +said: + + (1) Or, "for which I can personally vouch." + +Tell me, Diodorus, if one of your slaves runs away, are you at pains to +recover him? + +More than that (Diodorus answered), I summon others to my aid and I have +a reward cried for his recovery. + +Soc. Well, if one of your domestics is sick, do you tend him and call in +the doctors to save his life? + +Diod. Decidedly I do. + +Soc. And if an intimate acquaintance who is far more precious to you +than any of your household slaves is about to perish of want, you would +think it incumbent on you to take pains to save his life? Well! now you +know without my telling you that Hermogenes (2) is not made of wood or +stone. If you helped him he would be ashamed not to pay you in kind. +And yet--the opportunity of possessing a willing, kindly, and trusty +assistant well fitted to do your bidding, and not merely that, but +capable of originating useful ideas himself, with a certain forecast +of mind and judgment--I say such a man is worth dozens of slaves. Good +economists tell us that when a precious article may be got at a low +price we ought to buy. And nowadays when times are so bad it is possible +to get good friends exceedingly cheap. + + (2) Hermogenes, presumably the son of Hipponicus. See I. ii. 48. + +Diodorus answered: You are quite right, Socrates; bid Hermogenes come to +me. + +Soc. Bid Hermogenes come to you!--not I indeed! since for aught I can +understand you are no better entitled to summon him that to go to him +yourself, nor is the advantage more on his side than your own. + +Thus Diodorus went off in a trice to seek Hermogenes, and at no great +outlay won to himself a friend--a friend whose one concern it now was to +discover how, by word or deed, he might help and gladden Diodorus. + + + + +BOOK III + + +I + +Aspirants to honour and distinction (1) derived similar help from +Socrates, who in each case stimulated in them a persevering assiduity +towards their several aims, as the following narratives tend to show. He +had heard on one occasion of the arrival in Athens of Dionysodorus, (2) +who professed to teach the whole duty of a general. (3) Accordingly he +remarked to one of those who were with him--a young man whose anxiety to +obtain the office of Strategos (4) was no secret to him: + + (1) {ton kalon} = everything which the {kalos te kagathos} should aim + at, but especially the honourable offices of state such as the + Archonship, Strategia, Hipparchia, etc. See Plat. "Laches." + + (2) Dionysodorus of Chios, presumably. See Plat. "Euthyd." 271 C foll. + + (3) A professor of the science and art of strategy. + + (4) Lit. "that honour," sc. the Strategia. + +Soc. It would be monstrous on the part of any one who sought to become +a general (5) to throw away the slightest opportunity of learning the +duties of the office. Such a person, I should say, would deserve to be +fined and punished by the state far more than the charlatan who without +having learnt the art of a sculptor undertakes a contract to carve a +statue. Considering that the whole fortunes of the state are entrusted +to the general during a war, with all its incidental peril, it is only +reasonable to anticipate that great blessings or great misfortunes +will result in proportion to the success or bungling of that officer. I +appeal to you, young sir, do you not agree that a candidate who, while +taking pains to be elected neglects to learn the duties of the office, +would richly deserve to be fined? + + (5) i.e. "head of the war department, and commander-in-chief," etc. + +With arguments like these he persuaded the young man to go and take +lessons. After he had gone through the course he came back, and Socrates +proceeded playfully to banter him. + +Soc. Behold our young friend, sirs, as Homer says of Agamemnon, of mein +majestical, (6) so he; does he not seem to move more majestically, like +one who has studied to be a general? Of course, just as a man who +has learned to play the harp is a harper, even if he never touch the +instrument, or as one who has studied medicine is a physician, though he +does not practise, so our friend here from this time forward is now and +ever shall be a general, even though he does not receive a vote at the +elections. But the dunce who has not the science is neither general +nor doctor, no, not even if the whole world appointed him. But (he +proceeded, turning to the youth), in case any of us should ever find +ourselves captain or colonel (7) under you, to give us some smattering +of the science of war, what did the professor take as the starting-point +of his instruction in generalship? Please inform us. + + (6) "Il." iii. 169, 170. + + (7) Or, "brigadier or captain," lit. taxiarch or lochagos. + +Then the young man: He began where he ended; he taught me tactics +(8)--tactics and nothing else. + + (8) Cf. "Cyrop." I. vi. 12 foll.; VIII. v. 15. + +Yet surely (replied Socrates) that is only an infinitesimal part of +generalship. A general (9) must be ready in furnishing the material of +war: in providing the commissariat for his troops; quick in devices, he +must be full of practical resource; nothing must escape his eye or tax +his endurance; he must be shrewd, and ready of wit, a combination at +once of clemency and fierceness, of simplicity and of insidious +craft; he must play the part of watchman, of robber; now prodigal as +a spendthrift, and again close-fisted as a miser, the bounty of his +munificence must be equalled by the narrowness of his greed; impregnable +in defence, a very dare-devil in attack--these and many other qualities +must he possess who is to make a good general and minister of war; they +must come to him by gift of nature or through science. No doubt it is a +grand thing also to be a tactician, since there is all the difference in +the world between an army properly handled in the field and the same +in disorder; just as stones and bricks, woodwork and tiles, tumbled +together in a heap are of no use at all, but arrange them in a certain +order--at bottom and atop materials which will not crumble or rot, +such as stones and earthen tiles, and in the middle between the two put +bricks and woodwork, with an eye to architectural principle, (10) and +finally you get a valuable possession--to wit, a dwelling-place. + + (9) A strategos. For the duties and spheres of action of this officer, + see Gow, op. cit. xiv. 58. + + (10) "As in the building of a house." See Vitrivius, ii. 3; Plin. xxv. + 14. + +The simile is very apt, Socrates (11) (replied the youth), for in +battle, too, the rule is to draw up the best men in front and rear, +with those of inferior quality between, where they may be led on by the +former and pushed on by the hinder. + + (11) Cf. "Il." iv. 297 foll.; "Cyrop." VI. iii. 25; Polyb. x. 22. + +Soc. Very good, no doubt, if the professor taught you to distinguish +good and bad; but if not, where is the use of your learning? It would +scarcely help you, would it, to be told to arrange coins in piles, the +best coins at top and bottom and the worst in the middle, unless you +were first taught to distinguish real from counterfeit. + +The Youth. Well no, upon my word, he did not teach us that, so that the +task of distinguishing between good and bad must devolve on ourselves. + +Soc. Well, shall we see, then, how we may best avoid making blunders +between them? + +I am ready (replied the youth). + +Soc. Well then! Let us suppose we are marauders, and the task imposed +upon us is to carry off some bullion; it will be a right disposition of +our forces if we place in the vanguard those who are the greediest of +gain? (12) + + (12) "Whose fingers itch for gold." + +The Youth. I should think so. + +Soc. Then what if there is danger to be faced? Shall the vanguard +consist of men who are greediest of honour? + +The Youth. It is these, at any rate, who will face danger for the sake +of praise and glory. (13) Fortunately such people are not hid away in +a corner; they shine forth conspicuous everywhere, and are easy to be +discovered. + + (13) Cf. Shakesp. "seeking the bubble reputation even in the cannon's + mouth." + +Soc. But tell me, did he teach you how to draw up troops in general, +or specifically where and how to apply each particular kind of tactical +arrangement? + +The Youth. Nothing of the sort. + +Soc. And yet there are and must be innumerable circumstances in which +the same ordering of march or battle will be out of place. + +The Youth. I assure you he did not draw any of these fine distinctions. + +He did not, did not he? (he answered). Bless me! Go back to him again, +then, and ply him with questions; if he really has the science, and is +not lost to all sense of shame, he will blush to have taken your money +and then to have sent you away empty. + + +II + +At another time he fell in with a man who had been chosen general and +minister of war, and thus accosted him. + +Soc. Why did Homer, think you, designate Agamemnon "shepherd of the +peoples"? (1) Was it possibly to show that, even as a shepherd must care +for his sheep and see that they are safe and have all things needful, +and that the objects of their rearing be secured, so also must a general +take care that his soldiers are safe and have their supplies, and attain +the objects of their soldiering? Which last is that they may get the +mastery of their enemies, and so add to their own good fortune and +happiness; or tell me, what made him praise Agamemnon, saying-- + + He is both a good king and a warrior bold? (2) + +Did he mean, perhaps, to imply that he would be a 'warrior bold,' not +merely in standing alone and bravely battling against the foe, but as +inspiring the whole of his host with like prowess; and by a 'good king,' +not merely one who should stand forth gallantly to protect his own life, +but who should be the source of happiness to all over whom he reigns? +Since a man is not chosen king in order to take heed to himself, albeit +nobly, but that those who chose him may attain to happiness through him. +And why do men go soldiering except to ameliorate existence? (3) and to +this end they choose their generals that they may find in them guides to +the goal in question. He, then, who undertakes that office is bound to +procure for those who choose him the thing they seek for. And indeed it +were not easy to find any nobler ambition than this, or aught ignobler +than its opposite. + + (1) "Il." ii. 243. "The People's Paster," Chapman. + + (2) "Il." iii. 179; cf. "Symp." iv. 6. A favourite line of Alexander + the Great's, it is said. + + (3) Of, "that life may reach some flower of happiness." + +After such sort he handled the question, what is the virtue of a good +leader? and by shredding off all superficial qualities, laid bare as +the kernel of the matter that it is the function of every leader to make +those happy whom he may be called upon to lead. (4) + + (4) Cf. Plat. "Rep." 342. + + +III + +The following conversation with a youth who had just been elected +hipparch (1) (or commandant of cavalry), I can also vouch for. (2) + + (1) Cf. "Hipparch." + + (2) Lit. "I know he once held." + +Soc. Can you tell us what set you wishing to be a general of cavalry, +young sir? What was your object? I suppose it was not simply to ride at +the head of the "knights," an honour not denied to the mounted archers, +(3) who ride even in front of the generals themselves? + + (3) Lit. "Hippotoxotai." See Boeckh, "P. E. A." II. xxi. p. 264 (Eng. + tr.) + +Hipp. You are right. + +Soc. No more was it for the sake merely of public notoriety, since a +madman might boast of that fatal distinction. (4) + + (4) Or, "as we all know, 'Tom Fool' can boast," etc. + +Hipp. You are right again. + +Soc. Is this possibly the explanation? you think to improve the +cavalry--your aim would be to hand it over to the state in better +condition than you find it; and, if the cavalry chanced to be called +out, you at their head would be the cause of some good thing to Athens? + +Hipp. Most certainly. + +Soc. Well, and a noble ambition too, upon my word--if you can achieve +your object. The command to which you are appointed concerns horses and +riders, does it not? + +Hipp. It does, no doubt. + +Soc. Come then, will you explain to us first how you propose to improve +the horses. + +Hipp. Ah, that will scarcely form part of my business, I fancy. Each +trooper is personally responsible for the condition of his horse. + +Soc. But suppose, when they present themselves and their horses, (5) you +find that some have brought beasts with bad feet or legs or otherwise +infirm, and others such ill-fed jades that they cannot keep up on the +march; others, again, brutes so ill broken and unmanageable that they +will not keep their place in the ranks, and others such desperate +plungers that they cannot be got to any place in the ranks at all. What +becomes of your cavalry force then? How will you charge at the head of +such a troop, and win glory for the state? + + (5) For this phrase, see Schneider and Kuhner ad loc. + +Hipp. You are right. I will try to look after the horses to my utmost. + +Soc. Well, and will you not lay your hand to improve the men themselves? + +Hipp. I will. + +Soc. The first thing will be to make them expert in mounting their +chargers? + +Hipp. That certainly, for if any of them were dismounted he would then +have a better chance of saving himself. + +Soc. Well, but when it comes to the hazard of engagement, what will +you do then? Give orders to draw the enemy down to the sandy ground (6) +where you are accustomed to manouvre, or endeavour beforehand to put +your men through their practice on ground resembling a real battlefield? + + (6) e.g. the hippodrome at Phaleron. + +Hipp. That would be better, no doubt. + +Soc. Well, shall you regard it as a part of your duty to see that as +many of your men as possible can take aim and shoot on horseback? (7) + + (7) Cf. "Hipparch," i. 21. + +Hipp. It will be better, certainly. + +Soc. And have you thought how to whet the courage of your troopers? to +kindle in them rage to meet the enemy?--which things are but stimulants +to make stout hearts stouter? + +Hipp. If I have not done so hitherto, I will try to make up for lost +time now. + +Soc. And have you troubled your head at all to consider how you are to +secure the obedience of your men? for without that not one particle +of good will you get, for all your horses and troopers so brave and so +stout. + +Hipp. That is a true saying; but how, Socrates, should a man best bring +them to this virtue? (8) + + (8) {protrepsasthai}. See above, I. ii. 64; below, IV. v. 1. + +Soc. I presume you know that in any business whatever, people are more +apt to follow the lead of those whom they look upon as adepts; thus in +case of sickness they are readiest to obey him whom they regard as +the cleverest physician; and so on a voyage the most skilful pilot; in +matters agricultural the best farmer, and so forth. + +Hipp. Yes, certainly. + +Soc. Then in this matter of cavalry also we may reasonably suppose that +he who is looked upon as knowing his business best will command the +readiest obedience. + +Hipp. If, then, I can prove to my troopers that I am better than all of +them, will that suffice to win their obedience? + +Soc. Yes, if along with that you can teach them that obedience to you +brings greater glory and surer safety to themselves. + +Hipp. How am I to teach them that? + +Soc. Upon my word! How are you to teach them that? Far more easily, I +take it, than if you had to teach them that bad things are better than +good, and more advantageous to boot. + +Hipp. I suppose you mean that, besides his other qualifications a +commandant of cavalry must have command of speech and argument? (9) + + (9) Or, "practise the art of oratory"; "express himself clearly and + rationally." See Grote, "H. G." VIII. lxvii. p. 463 note; + "Hipparch," i. 24; viii. 22. + +Soc. Were you under the impression that the commandant was not to open +his mouth? Did it never occur to you that all the noblest things +which custom (10) compels us to learn, and to which indeed we owe our +knowledge of life, have all been learned by means of speech (11) and +reason; and if there be any other noble learning which a man may learn, +it is this same reason whereby he learns it; and the best teachers are +those who have the freest command of thought and language, and those +that have the best knowledge of the most serious things are the most +brilliant masters of disputation. Again, have you not observed that +whenever this city of ours fits out one of her choruses--such as that, +for instance, which is sent to Delos (12)--there is nothing elsewhere +from any quarter of the world which can compete with it; nor will you +find in any other state collected so fair a flower of manhood as in +Athens? (13) + + (10) Cf Arist. "Rhet." ii. 12, {oi neoi pepaideuntai upo tou nomou + monon}. + + (11) {dia logou}. + + (12) See Thuc. iii. 104; and below, IV. viii. 2. + + (13) See references ap. Schneider and Kuhner; "Symp." iv. 17. + +Hipp. You say truly. + +Soc. But for all that, it is not in sweetness of voice that the +Athenians differ from the rest of the world so much, nor in stature of +body or strength of limb, but in ambition and that love of honour (14) +which most of all gives a keen edge to the spirit in the pursuit of +things lovely and of high esteem. + + (14) See below, v. 3; Dem. "de Cor." 28 foll. + +Hipp. That, too, is a true saying. + +Soc. Do you not think, then, that if a man devoted himself to our +cavalry also, here in Athens, we should far outstrip the rest of the +world, whether in the furnishing of arms and horses, or in orderliness +of battle-array, or in eager hazardous encounter with the foe, if only +we could persuade ourselves that by so doing we should obtain honour and +distinction? + +Hipp. It is reasonable to think so. + +Soc. Have no hesitation, therefore, but try to guide your men into this +path, (15) whence you yourself, and through you your fellow-citizens, +will reap advantage. + + (15) Or, "to conduct which will not certainly fail of profit to + yourself or through you to..." + +Yes, in good sooth, I will try (he answered). + + +IV + +At another time, seeing Nicomachides on his way back from the +elections (of magistrates), (1) he asked him: Who are elected generals, +Nicomachides? + + (1) Cf. "Pol. Ath." i. 3; Aristot. "Ath. Pol." 44. 4; and Dr. Sandys' + note ad loc. p. 165 of his edition. + +And he: Is it not just like them, these citizens of Athens--just like +them, I say--to go and elect, not me, who ever since my name first +appeared on the muster-roll have literally worn myself out with military +service--now as a captain, now as a colonel--and have received all these +wounds from the enemy, look you! (at the same time, and suiting the +action to the word, he bared his arms and proceeded to show the scars +of ancient wounds)--they elect not me (he went on), but, if you please, +Antisthenes! who never served as a hoplite (2) in his life nor in the +cavalry ever made a brilliant stroke, that I ever heard tell of; no! in +fact, he has got no science at all, I take it, except to amass stores of +wealth. + + (2) Cf. Lys. xiv. 10. + +But still (returned Socrates), surely that is one point in his +favour--he ought to be able to provide the troops with supplies. + +Nic. Well, for the matter of that, merchants are good hands at +collecting stores; but it does not follow that a merchant or trader will +be able to command an army. + +But (rejoined Socrates) Antisthenes is a man of great pertinacity, who +insists on winning, and that is a very necessary quality in a general. +(3) Do not you see how each time he has been choragos (4) he has been +successful with one chorus after another? + + (3) See Grote, "Plato," i. 465 foll. + + (4) Choir-master, or Director of the Chorus. It was his duty to + provide and preside over a chorus to sing, dance, or play at any + of the public festivals, defraying the cost as a state service of + {leitourgia}. See "Pol. Ath." iii. 4; "Hiero," ix. 4; Aristot. + "Pol. Ath." 28. 3. + +Nic. Bless me! yes; but there is a wide difference between standing at +the head of a band of singers and dancers and a troop of soldiers. + +Soc. Still, without any practical skill in singing or in the training +of a chorus, Antisthenes somehow had the art to select the greatest +proficients in both. + +Nic. Yes, and by the same reasoning we are to infer that on a campaign +he will find proficients, some to marshal the troops for him and others +to fight his battles? + +Soc. Just so. If in matters military he only exhibits the same skill in +selecting the best hands as he has shown in matters of the chorus, it is +highly probable he will here also bear away the palm of victory; and we +may presume that if he expended so much to win a choric victory with a +single tribe, (5) he will be ready to expend more to secure a victory in +war with the whole state to back him. + + (5) See Dem. "against Lept." 496. 26. Each tribe nominated such of its + members as were qualified to undertake the burden. + +Nic. Do you really mean, Socrates, that it is the function of the same +man to provide efficient choruses and to act as commander-in-chief? + +Soc. I mean this, that, given a man knows what he needs to provide, +and has the skill to do so, no matter what the department of things may +be--house or city or army--you will find him a good chief and director +(6) of the same. + + (6) Or, "representative." + +Then Nicomachides: Upon my word, Socrates, I should never have expected +to hear you say that a good housekeeper (7) and steward of an estate +would make a good general. + + (7) Or, "economist"; cf. "Cyrop." I. vi. 12. + +Soc. Come then, suppose we examine their respective duties, and so +determine (8) whether they are the same or different. + + (8) Lit. "get to know." + +Nic. Let us do so. + +Soc. Well then, is it not a common duty of both to procure the ready +obedience of those under them to their orders? + +Nic. Certainly. + +Soc. And also to assign to those best qualified to perform them their +distinctive tasks? + +That, too, belongs to both alike (he answered). + +Soc. Again, to chastise the bad and reward the good belongs to both +alike, methinks? + +Nic. Decidedly. + +Soc. And to win the kindly feeling of their subordinates must surely be +the noble ambition of both? + +That too (he answered). + +Soc. And do you consider it to the interest of both alike to win the +adherence of supporters and allies? (9) + + (9) In reference to the necessity of building up a family connection + or political alliances cf. Arist. "Pol." iii. 9, 13. + +Nic. Without a doubt. + +Soc. And does it not closely concern them both to be good guardians of +their respective charges? + +Nic. Very much so. + +Soc. Then it equally concerns them both to be painstaking and prodigal +of toil in all their doings? + +Nic. Yes, all these duties belong to both alike, but the parallel ends +when you come to actual fighting. + +Soc. Yet they are both sure to meet with enemies? + +Nic. There is no doubt about that. + +Soc. Then is it not to the interest of both to get the upper hand of +these? + +Nic. Certainly; but you omit to tell us what service organisation and +the art of management will render when it comes to actual fighting. + +Soc. Why, it is just then, I presume, it will be of most service, for +the good economist knows that nothing is so advantageous or so lucrative +as victory in battle, or to put it negatively, nothing so disastrous +and expensive as defeat. He will enthusiastically seek out and provide +everything conducive to victory, he will painstakingly discover and +guard against all that tends to defeat, and when satisfied that all is +ready and ripe for victory he will deliver battle energetically, and +what is equally important, until the hour of final preparation has +arrived, (10) he will be cautious to deliver battle. Do not despise men +of economic genius, Nicomachides; the difference between the devotion +requisite to private affairs and to affairs of state is merely one of +quantity. For the rest the parallel holds strictly, and in this respect +pre-eminently, that both are concerned with human instruments: which +human beings, moreover, are of one type and temperament, whether we +speak of devotion to public affairs or of the administration of private +property. To fare well in either case is given to those who know the +secret of dealing with humanity, whereas the absence of that knowledge +will as certainly imply in either case a fatal note of discord. (11) + + (10) Lit. "as long as he is unprepared." + + (11) L. Dindorf, "Index Graec." Ox. ed.; cf. Hor. "Ep." II. ii. 144, + "sed verae numerosque modosque ediscere vitae," "the harmony of + life," Conington. + + +V + +A conversation held with Pericles the son of the great statesman may +here be introduced. (1) Socrates began: + + (1) Or, "On one occasion Pericles was the person addressed in + conversation." For Pericles see "Hell." I. v. 16; vii. 15; Plut. + "Pericl." 37 (Clough, i. 368). + +I am looking forward, I must tell you, Pericles, to a great improvement +in our military affairs when you are minister of war. (2) The prestige +of Athens, I hope, will rise; we shall gain the mastery over our +enemies. + + (2) "Strategos." + +Pericles replied: I devoutly wish your words might be fulfilled, but how +this happy result is to be obtained, I am at a loss to discover. + +Shall we (Socrates continued), shall we balance the arguments for and +against, and consider to what extent the possibility does exist? + +Pray let us do so (he answered). + +Soc. Well then, you know that in point of numbers the Athenians are not +inferior to the Boeotians? + +Per. Yes, I am aware of that. + +Soc. And do you think the Boeotians could furnish a better pick of fine +healthy men than the Athenians? + +Per. I think we should very well hold our own in that respect. + +Soc. And which of the two would you take to be the more united +people--the friendlier among themselves? + +Per. The Athenians, I should say, for so many sections of the Boeotians, +resenting the selfish policy (3) of Thebes, are ill disposed to that +power, but at Athens I see nothing of the sort. + + (3) "The self-aggrandisement." + +Soc. But perhaps you will say that there is no people more jealous of +honour or haughtier in spirit. (4) And these feelings are no weak +spurs to quicken even a dull spirit to hazard all for glory's sake and +fatherland. + + (4) Reading {megalophronestatoi}, after Cobet. See "Hipparch," vii. 3; + or if as vulg. {philophronestatoi}, transl. "more affable." + +Per. Nor is there much fault to find with Athenians in these respects. + +Soc. And if we turn to consider the fair deeds of ancestry, (5) to +no people besides ourselves belongs so rich a heritage of stimulating +memories, whereby so many of us are stirred to pursue virtue with +devotion and to show ourselves in our turn also men of valour like our +sires. + + (5) See Wesley's anthem, Eccles. xliv. 1, "Let us now praise famous + men and our fathers that begat us." + +Per. All that you say, Socrates, is most true, but do you observe that +ever since the disaster of the thousand under Tolmides at Lebadeia, +coupled with that under Hippocrates at Delium, (6) the prestige of +Athens by comparison with the Boeotians has been lowered, whilst the +spirit of Thebes as against Athens had been correspondingly exalted, so +that those Boeotians who in old days did not venture to give battle +to the Athenians even in their own territory unless they had the +Lacedaemonians and the rest of the Peloponnesians to help them, do +nowadays threaten to make an incursion into Attica single-handed; and +the Athenians, who formerly, if they had to deal with the Boeotians (7) +only, made havoc of their territory, are now afraid the Boeotians may +some day harry Attica. + + (6) Lebadeia, 447 B.C.; Delium, 424 B.C. For Tolmides and Hippocrates + see Thuc. i. 113; iv. 100 foll.; Grote, "H. G." v. 471; vi. 533. + + (7) Reading {ote B. monoi}, al. {ou monoi}, "when the Boeotians were + not unaided." + +To which Socrates: Yes, I perceive that this is so, but it seems to me +that the state was never more tractably disposed, never so ripe for +a really good leader, as to-day. For if boldness be the parent of +carelessness, laxity, and insubordination, it is the part of fear to +make people more disposed to application, obedience, and good order. +A proof of which you may discover in the behaviour of people on +ship-board. It is in seasons of calm weather when there is nothing +to fear that disorder may be said to reign, but as soon as there is +apprehension of a storm, or an enemy in sight, the scene changes; not +only is each word of command obeyed, but there is a hush of silent +expectation; the mariners wait to catch the next signal like an +orchestra with eyes upon the leader. + +Per. But indeed, given that now is the opportunity to take obedience +at the flood, it is high time also to explain by what means we are +to rekindle in the hearts of our countrymen (8) the old fires--the +passionate longing for antique valour, for the glory and the wellbeing +of the days of old. + + (8) Reading {anerasthenai}, Schneider's emendation of the vulg. + {aneristhenai}. + +Well (proceeded Socrates), supposing we wished them to lay claim +to certain material wealth now held by others, we could not better +stimulate them to lay hands on the objects coveted than by showing them +that these were ancestral possessions (9) to which they had a natural +right. But since our object is that they should set their hearts on +virtuous pre-eminence, we must prove to them that such headship combined +with virtue is an old time-honoured heritage which pertains to them +beyond all others, and that if they strive earnestly after it they will +soon out-top the world. + + (9) Cf. Solon in the matter of Salamis, Plut. "Sol." 8; Bergk. "Poet. + Lyr. Gr. Solon," SALAMIS, i. 2, 3. + +Por. How are we to inculcate this lesson? + +Soc. I think by reminding them of a fact already registered in their +minds, (10) that the oldest of our ancestors whose names are known to us +were also the bravest of heroes. + + (10) Or, "to which their ears are already opened." + +Per. I suppose you refer to that judgment of the gods which, for their +virtue's sake, Cecrops and his followers were called on to decide? (11) + + (11) See Apollodorus, iii. 14. + +Soc. Yes, I refer to that and to the birth and rearing of Erectheus, +(12) and also to the war (13) which in his days was waged to stay the +tide of invasion from the whole adjoining continent; and that other war +in the days of the Heraclidae (14) against the men of Peloponnese; and +that series of battles fought in the days of Theseus (15)--in all which +the virtuous pre-eminence of our ancestry above the men of their own +times was made manifest. Or, if you please, we may come down to things +of a later date, which their descendants and the heroes of days not so +long anterior to our own wrought in the struggle with the lords of Asia, +(16) nay of Europe also, as far as Macedonia: a people possessing a +power and means of attack far exceeding any who had gone before--who, +moreover, had accomplished the doughtiest deeds. These things the men of +Athens wrought partly single-handed, (17) and partly as sharers with +the Peloponnesians in laurels won by land and sea. Heroes were these men +also, far outshining, as tradition tells us, the peoples of their time. + + (12) Cf. "Il." ii. 547, {'Erekhtheos megaletoros k.t.l.} + + (13) Cf. Isoc. "Paneg." 19, who handles all the topics. + + (14) Commonly spoken of as "the Return." See Grote, "H. G." II. ch. + xviii. + + (15) Against the Amazons and Thracians; cf. Herod. ix. 27; Plut. + "Thes." 27. + + (16) The "Persian" wars; cf. Thucyd. I. i. + + (17) He omits the Plataeans. + +Per. Yes, so runs the story of their heroism. + +Soc. Therefore it is that, amidst the many changes of inhabitants, and +the migrations which have, wave after wave, swept over Hellas, these +maintained themselves in their own land, unmoved; so that it was a +common thing for others to turn to them as to a court of appeal on +points of right, or to flee to Athens as a harbour of refuge from the +hand of the oppressor. (18) + + (18) Cf. (Plat.) "Menex."; Isocr. "Paneg." + +Then Pericles: And the wonder to me, Socrates, is how our city ever came +to decline. + +Soc. I think we are victims of our own success. Like some athlete, (19) +whose facile preponderance in the arena has betrayed him into laxity +until he eventually succumbs to punier antagonists, so we Athenians, +in the plenitude of our superiority, have neglected ourselves and are +become degenerate. + + (19) Reading {athletai tines}, or if {alloi tines}, translate "any one + else." + +Per. What then ought we to do now to recover our former virtue? + +Soc. There need be no mystery about that, I think. We can rediscover the +institutions of our forefathers--applying them to the regulation of our +lives with something of their precision, and not improbably with like +success; or we can imitate those who stand at the front of affairs +to-day, (20) adapting to ourselves their rule of life, in which case, if +we live up to the standard of our models, we may hope at least to rival +their excellence, or, by a more conscientious adherence to what they aim +at, rise superior. + + (20) Sc. the Lacedaemonians. See W. L. Newman, op. cit. i. 396. + +You would seem to suggest (he answered) that the spirit of beautiful and +brave manhood has taken wings and left our city; (21) as, for instance, +when will Athenians, like the Lacedaemonians, reverence old age--the +Athenian, who takes his own father as a starting-point for the contempt +he pours upon grey hairs? When will he pay as strict an attention to the +body, who is not content with neglecting a good habit, (22) but laughs +to scorn those who are careful in this matter? When shall we Athenians +so obey our magistrates--we who take a pride, as it were, in despising +authority? When, once more, shall we be united as a people--we who, +instead of combining to promote common interests, delight in blackening +each other's characters, (23) envying one another more than we envy all +the world besides; and--which is our worst failing--who, in private and +public intercourse alike, are torn by dissension and are caught in a +maze of litigation, and prefer to make capital out of our neighbour's +difficulties rather than to render natural assistance? To make our +conduct consistent, indeed, we treat our national interests no better +than if they were the concerns of some foreign state; we make them bones +of contention to wrangle over, and rejoice in nothing so much as in +possessing means and ability to indulge these tastes. From this hotbed +is engendered in the state a spirit of blind folly (24) and cowardice, +and in the hearts of the citizens spreads a tangle of hatred and mutual +hostility which, as I often shudder to think, will some day cause some +disaster to befall the state greater than it can bear. (25) + + (21) Or, "is far enough away from Athens." + + (22) See below, III. xii. 5; "Pol. Ath." i. 13; "Rev." iv. 52. + + (23) Or, "to deal despitefully with one another." + + (24) Reading {ateria}. See L. Dindorf ad loc., Ox. ed. lxii. Al. + {apeiria}, a want of skill, or {ataxia}, disorderliness. Cf. "Pol. + Ath." i. 5. + + (25) Possibly the author is thinking of the events of 406, 405 B.C. + (see "Hell." I. vii. and II.), and history may repeat itself. + +Do not (replied Socrates), do not, I pray you, permit yourself to +believe that Athenians are smitten with so incurable a depravity. Do you +not observe their discipline in all naval matters? Look at their prompt +and orderly obedience to the superintendents at the gymnastic contests, +(26) their quite unrivalled subservience to their teachers in the +training of our choruses. + + (26) Epistatoi, i.e. stewards and training-masters. + +Yes (he answered), there's the wonder of it; to think that all those +good people should so obey their leaders, but that our hoplites and our +cavalry, who may be supposed to rank before the rest of the citizens +in excellence of manhood, (27) should be so entirely unamenable to +discipline. + + (27) {kalokagathia}. + +Then Socrates: Well, but the council which sits on Areopagos is composed +of citizens of approved (28) character, is it not? + + (28) Technically, they must have passed the {dokimasia}. And for the + "Aeropagos" see Grote, "H. G." v. 498; Aristot. "Pol." ii. 12; + "Ath. Pol." 4. 4, where see Dr. Sandys' note, p. 18. + +Certainly (he answered). + +Soc. Then can you name any similar body, judicial or executive, trying +cases or transacting other business with greater honour, stricter +legality, higher dignity, or more impartial justice? + +No, I have no fault to find on that score (he answered). + +Soc. Then we ought not to despair as though all sense of orderliness and +good discipline had died out of our countrymen. + +Still (he answered), if it is not to harp upon one string, I maintain +that in military service, where, if anywhere, sobreity and temperance, +orderliness and good discipline are needed, none of these essentials +receives any attention. + +May it not perhaps be (asked Socrates) that in this department they are +officered by those who have the least knowledge? (29) Do you not notice, +to take the case of harp-players, choric performers, dancers, and the +like, that no one would ever dream of leading if he lacked the requisite +knowledge? and the same holds of wrestlers or pancratiasts. + + (29) {episteme}. See below, III. ix. 10. + +Moreover, while in these cases any one in command can tell you where he +got the elementary knowledge of what he presides over, most generals are +amateurs and improvisers. (30) I do not at all suppose that you are +one of that sort. I believe you could give as clear an account of your +schooling in strategy as you could in the matter of wrestling. No +doubt you have got at first hand many of your father's "rules for +generalship," which you carefully preserve, besides having collected +many others from every quarter whence it was possible to pick up any +knowledge which would be of use to a future general. Again, I feel +sure you are deeply concerned to escape even unconscious ignorance of +anything which will be serviceable to you in so high an office; and +if you detect in yourself any ignorance, you turn to those who have +knowledge in these matters (sparing neither gifts nor gratitude) to +supplement your ignorance by their knowledge and to secure their help. + + (30) Cf. "Pol. Lac." xiii. 5. + +To which Pericles: I am not so blind, Socrates, as to imagine you say +these words under the idea that I am truly so careful in these matters; +but rather your object is to teach me that the would-be general must +make such things his care. I admit in any case all you say. + +Socrates proceeded: Has it ever caught your observation, Pericles, that +a high mountain barrier stretches like a bulwark in front of our country +down towards Boeotia--cleft, moreover, by narrow and precipitous passes, +the only avenues into the heart of Attica, which lies engirdled by a +ring of natural fortresses? (31) + + (31) The mountains are Cithaeron and Parnes N., and Cerata N.W. + +Per. Certainly I have. + +Soc. Well, and have you ever heard tell of the Mysians and Pisidians +living within the territory of the great king, (32) who, inside their +mountain fortresses, lightly armed, are able to rush down and inflict +much injury on the king's territory by their raids, while preserving +their own freedom? + + (32) For this illustration see "Anab." III. ii. 23; cf. "Econ." iv. + 18, where Socrates ({XS}) refers to Cyrus's expedition and death. + +Per. Yes, the circumstance is not new to me. + +And do you not think (added Socrates) that a corps of young able-bodied +Athenians, accoutred with lighter arms, (33) and holding our natural +mountain rampart in possession, would prove at once a thorn in the +enemy's side offensively, whilst defensively they would form a splendid +bulwark to protect the country? + + (33) Cf. the reforms of Iphicrates. + +To which Pericles: I think, Socrates, these would be all useful +measures, decidedly. + +If, then (replied Socrates), these suggestions meet your approbation, +try, O best of men, to realise them--if you can carry out a portion +of them, it will be an honour to yourself and a blessing to the state; +while, if you fail in any point, there will be no damage done to the +city nor discredit to yourself. + + +VI + +Glaucon, (1) the son of Ariston, had conceived such an ardour to gain +the headship of the state that nothing could hinder him but he must +deliver a course of public speeches, (2) though he had not yet reached +the age of twenty. His friends and relatives tried in vain to stop him +making himself ridiculous and being dragged down from the bema. (3) +Socrates, who took a kindly interest in the youth for the sake of +Charmides (4) the son of Glaucon, and of Plato, alone succeeded in +restraining him. It happened thus. He fell in with him, and first of +all, to get him to listen, detained him by some such remarks as the +following: (5) + + (1) Glaucon, Plato's brother. Grote, "Plato," i. 508. + + (2) "Harangue the People." + + (3) See Plat. "Protag." 319 C: "And if some person offers to give them + advice who is not supposed by them to have any skill in the art + (sc. of politics), even though he be good-looking, and rich, and + noble, they will not listen to him, but laugh at him, and hoot + him, until he is either clamoured down and retires of himself; or + if he persists, he is dragged away or put out by the constables at + the command of the prytanes" (Jowett). Cf. Aristoph. "Knights," + 665, {kath eilkon auton oi prutaneis kai toxotai}. + + (4) For Charmides (maternal uncle of Plato and Glaucon, cousin of + Critias) see ch. vii. below; Plato the philosopher, Glaucon's + brother, see Cobet, "Pros. Xen." p. 28. + + (5) Or, "and in the first instance addressing him in such terms he + could not choose but hear, detained him." See above, II. vi. 11. + Socrates applies his own theory. + +Ah, Glaucon (he exclaimed), so you have determined to become prime +minister? (6) + + (6) {prostateuein}. + +Glauc. Yes, Socrates, I have. + +Soc. And what a noble aim! if aught human ever deserved to be called +noble; since if you succeed in your design, it follows, as the night the +day, you will be able not only to gratify your every wish, but you +will be in a position to benefit your friends, you will raise up your +father's house, you will exalt your fatherland, you will become a name +thrice famous in the city first, and next in Hellas, and lastly even +among barbarians perhaps, like Themistocles; but be it here or be it +there, wherever you be, you will be the observed of all beholders. (7) + + (7) "The centre of attraction--the cynosure of neighbouring eyes." + +The heart of Glaucon swelled with pride as he drank in the words, and +gladly he stayed to listen. + +Presently Socrates proceeded: Then this is clear, Glaucon, is it not? +that you must needs benefit the city, since you desire to reap her +honours? + +Glauc. Undoubtedly. + +Then, by all that is sacred (Socrates continued), do not keep us in the +dark, but tell us in what way do you propose first to benefit the state? +what is your starting-point? (8) When Glaucon remained with sealed lips, +as if he were now for the first time debating what this starting-point +should be, Socrates continued: I presume, if you wished to improve a +friend's estate, you would endeavour to do so by adding to its wealth, +would you not? So here, maybe, you will try to add to the wealth of the +state? + + (8) Or, "tell us what your starting-point will be in the path of + benefaction." + +Most decidedly (he answered). + +Soc. And we may take it the state will grow wealthier in proportion as +her revenues increase? + +Glauc. That seems probable, at any rate. + +Soc. Then would you kindly tell us from what sources the revenues of the +state are at present derived, and what is their present magnitude? No +doubt you have gone carefully into the question, so that if any of these +are failing you may make up the deficit, or if neglected for any reason, +make some new provision. (9) + + (9) Or, "or if others have dropped out or been negligently overlooked, + you may replace them." + +Glauc. Nay, to speak the truth, these are matters I have not thoroughly +gone into. + +Never mind (he said) if you have omitted the point; but you might oblige +us by running through the items or heads of expenditure. Obviously you +propose to remove all those which are superfluous? + +Glauc. Well, no. Upon my word I have not had time to look into that side +of the matter either as yet. + +Soc. Then we will postpone for the present the problem of making +the state wealthier; obviously without knowing the outgoings and the +incomings it would be impossible to deal with the matter seriously. + +But, Socrates (Glaucon remarked), it is possible to enrich the state out +of the pockets of her enemies! + +Yes, to be sure, considerably (answered Socrates), in the event of +getting the better of them; but in the event of being worsted, it is +also possible to lose what we have got. + +A true observation (he replied). + +And therefore (proceeded Socrates), before he makes up his mind with +what enemy to go to war, a statesman should know the relative powers of +his own city and the adversary's, so that, in case the superiority be +on his own side, he may throw the weight of his advice into the scale +of undertaking war; but if the opposite he may plead in favour of +exercising caution. + +You are right (he answered). + +Soc. Then would you for our benefit enumerate the land and naval forces +first of Athens and then of our opponents? + +Glauc. Pardon me. I could not tell you them off-hand at a moment's +notice. + +Or (added Socrates), if you have got the figures on paper, you might +produce them. I cannot tell how anxious I am to hear your statement. + +Glauc. No, I assure you, I have not got them even on paper yet. + +Soc. Well then, we will defer tending advice on the topic of peace or +war, in a maiden speech at any rate. (10) I can understand that, owing +to the magnitude of the questions, in these early days of your ministry +you have not yet fully examined them. But come, I am sure that you have +studied the defences of the country, at all events, and you know exactly +how many forts and outposts are serviceable (11) and how many are not; +you can tell us which garrisons are strong enough and which defective; +and you are prepared to throw in the weight of your advice in favour +of increasing the serviceable outposts and sweeping away those that are +superfluous? + + (10) See "Econ." xi. 1. + + (11) Or, "advantageously situated." See the author's own tract on + "Revenues." + +Glauc. Yes, sweep them all away, that's my advice; for any good that is +likely to come of them! Defences indeed! so maintained that the property +of the rural districts is simply pilfered. + +But suppose you sweep away the outposts (he asked), may not something +worse, think you, be the consequence? will not sheer plundering be free +to any ruffian who likes?... But may I ask is this judgment the +result of personal inspection? have you gone yourself and examined the +defences? or how do you know that they are all maintained as you say? + +Glauc. I conjecture that it is so. + +Soc. Well then, until we have got beyond the region of conjecture shall +we defer giving advice on the matter? (It will be time enough when we +know the facts.) + +Possibly it would be better to wait till then (replied Glaucon). + +Soc. Then there are the mines, (12) but, of course, I am aware that you +have not visited them in person, so as to be able to say why they are +less productive than formerly. + + (12) Again the author's tract on "Revenues" is a comment on the + matter. + +Well, no; I have never been there myself (he answered). + +Soc. No, Heaven help us! an unhealthy district by all accounts; so +that, when the moment for advice on that topic arrives, you will have an +excuse ready to hand. + +I see you are making fun of me (Glaucon answered). + +Soc. Well, but here is a point, I am sure, which you have not neglected. +No, you will have thoroughly gone into it, and you can tell us. For how +long a time could the corn supplies from the country districts support +the city? how much is requisite for a single year, so that the city may +not run short of this prime necessary, before you are well aware; but on +the contrary you with your full knowledge will be in a position to give +advice on so vital a question, to the aid or may be the salvation of +your country? + +It is a colossal business this (Glaucon answered), if I am to be obliged +to give attention to all these details. + +Soc. On the other hand, a man could not even manage his own house or his +estate well, without, in the first place, knowing what he requires, and, +in the second place, taking pains, item by item, to supply his wants. +But since this city consists of more than ten thousand houses, and it is +not easy to pay minute attention to so many all at once, how is it you +did not practise yourself by trying to augment the resources of one at +any rate of these--I mean your own uncle's? The service would not be +thrown away. Then if your strength suffices in the single case you might +take in hand a larger number; but if you fail to relieve one, how could +you possibly hope to succeed with many? How absurd for a man, if he +cannot carry half a hundredweight, to attempt to carry a whole! (13) + + (13) Lit. "a single talent's weight... to carry two." + +Glauc. Nay, for my part, I am willing enough to assist my uncle's house, +if my uncle would only be persuaded to listen to my advice. + +Soc. Then, when you cannot persuade your uncle, do you imagine you will +be able to make the whole Athenian people, uncle and all, obey you? +Be careful, Glaucon (he added), lest in your thirst for glory and high +repute you come to the opposite. Do you not see how dangerous it is for +a man to speak or act beyond the range (14) of his knowledge? To take +the cases known to you of people whose conversation or conduct clearly +transcends these limits: should you say they gain more praise or more +blame on that account? Are they admired the rather or despised? Or, +again, consider those who do know what they say and what they do; and +you will find, I venture to say, that in every sort of undertaking those +who enjoy repute and admiration belong to the class of those endowed +with the highest knowledge; whilst conversely the people of sinister +reputation, the mean and the contemptible, emanate from some depth of +ignorance and dulness. If therefore what you thirst for is repute and +admiration as a statesman, try to make sure of one accomplishment: in +other words, the knowledge as far as in you lies of what you wish to do. +(15) If, indeed, with this to distinguish you from the rest of the +world you venture to concern yourself with state affairs, it would not +surprise me but that you might reach the goal of your ambition easily. + + (14) Or, "to talk of things which he does not know, or to meddle with + them." + + (15) Or, "try as far as possible to achieve one thing, and that is to + know the business which you propose to carry out." + + +VII + +Now Charmides, (1) the son of Glaucon, was, as Socrates observed, a man +of mark and influence: a much more powerful person in fact than the mass +of those devoted to politics at that date, but at the same time he was +a man who shrank from approaching the people or busying himself with the +concerns of the state. Accordingly Socrates addressed him thus: + + (1) See last chapter for his relationship to Glaucon (the younger) and + Plato; for a conception of his character, Plato's dialogue + "Charmides"; "Theag." 128 E; "Hell." II. iv. 19; "Symp." iv. 31; + Grote, "Plato," i. 480. + +Tell me, Charmides, supposing some one competent to win a victory in the +arena and to receive a crown, (2) whereby he will gain honour himself +and make the land of his fathers more glorious in Hellas, (3) were to +refuse to enter the lists--what kind of person should you set him down +to be? + + (2) In some conquest (e.g. of the Olympic games) where the prize is a + mere wreath. + + (3) Cf. Pindar passim. + +Clearly an effeminate and cowardly fellow (he answered). + +Soc. And what if another man, who had it in him, by devotion to affairs +of state, to exalt his city and win honour himself thereby, were to +shrink and hesitate and hang back--would he too not reasonably be +regarded as a coward? + +Possibly (he answered); but why do you address these questions to me? + +Because (replied Socrates) I think that you, who have this power, do +hesitate to devote yourself to matters which, as being a citizen, if for +no other reason, you are bound to take part in. (4) + + (4) Or add, "and cannot escape from." + +Charm. And wherein have you detected in me this power, that you pass so +severe a sentence upon me? + +Soc. I have detected it plainly enough in those gatherings (5) in which +you meet the politicians of the day, when, as I observe, each time they +consult you on any point you have always good advice to offer, and when +they make a blunder you lay your finger on the weak point immediately. + + (5) See above, I. v. 4; here possibly of political club conversation. + +Charm. To discuss and reason in private is one thing, Socrates, to +battle in the throng of the assembly is another. + +Soc. And yet a man who can count, counts every bit as well in a crowd as +when seated alone by himself; and it is the best performer on the harp +in private who carries off the palm of victory in public. + +Charm. But do you not see that modesty and timidity are feelings +implanted in man's nature? and these are much more powerfully present to +us in a crowd than within the circle of our intimates. + +Soc. Yes, but what I am bent on teaching you is that while you feel no +such bashfulness and timidity before the wisest and strongest of men, +you are ashamed of opening your lips in the midst of weaklings and +dullards. (6) Is it the fullers among them of whom you stand in awe, or +the cobblers, or the carpenters, or the coppersmiths, or the merchants, +or the farmers, or the hucksters of the market-place exchanging their +wares, and bethinking them how they are to buy this thing cheap, and to +sell the other dear--is it before these you are ashamed, for these are +the individual atoms out of which the Public Assembly is composed? (7) +And what is the difference, pray, between your behaviour and that of a +man who, being the superior of trained athletes, quails before a set of +amateurs? Is it not the case that you who can argue so readily with the +foremost statesmen in the city, some of whom affect to look down +upon you--you, with your vast superiority over practised popular +debaters--are no sooner confronted with a set of folk who never in their +lives gave politics a thought, and into whose heads certainly it never +entered to look down upon you--than you are afraid to open your lips in +mortal terror of being laughed at? + + (6) Cf. Cic. "Tusc." v. 36, 104; Plat. "Gorg." 452 E, 454 B. + + (7) Cf. Plat. "Protag." 319 C. See W. L. Newman, op. cit. i. 103. + +Well, but you would admit (he answered) that sound argument does +frequently bring down the ridicule of the Popular Assembly. + +Soc. Which is equally true of the others. (8) And that is just what +rouses my astonishment, that you who can cope so easily with these +lordly people (when guilty of ridicule) should persuade yourself that +you cannot stand up against a set of commoners. (9) My good fellow, do +not be ignorant of yourself! (10) do not fall into that commonest of +errors--theirs who rush off to investigate the concerns of the rest of +the world, and have no time to turn and examine themselves. Yet that is +a duty which you must not in cowardly sort draw back from: rather must +you brace ourself to give good heed to your own self; and as to public +affairs, if by any manner of means they may be improved through you, do +not neglect them. Success in the sphere of politics means that not only +the mass of your fellow-citizens, but your personal friends and you +yourself last but not least, will profit by your action. + + (8) {oi eteroi}, i.e. "the foremost statesmen" mentioned before. Al. + "the opposite party," the "Tories," if one may so say, of the + political clubs. + + (9) Lit. "those... these." + + (10) Ernesti aptly cf. Cic. "ad Quint." iii. 6. See below, III. ix. 6; + IV. ii. 24. + + +VIII + +Once when Aristippus (1) set himself to subject Socrates to a +cross-examination, such as he had himself undergone at the hands of +Socrates on a former occasion, (2) Socrates, being minded to benefit +those who were with him, gave his answers less in the style of a debater +guarding against perversions of his argument, than of a man persuaded of +the supreme importance of right conduct. (3) + + (1) For Aristippus see above, p. 38; for the connection, {boulomenos + tous sunontas ophelein}, between this and the preceeding chapter, + see above, Conspectus, p. xxvi. + + (2) Possibly in reference to the conversation above. In reference to + the present dialogue see Grote, "Plato," I. xi. p. 380 foll. + + (3) For {prattein ta deonta} cf. below, III. ix. 4, 11; Plat. "Charm." + 164 B; but see J. J. Hartman, "An. Xen." p. 141. + +Aristippus asked him "if he knew of anything good," (4) intending in +case he assented and named any particular good thing, like food or +drink, or wealth, or health, or strength, or courage, to point out +that the thing named was sometimes bad. But he, knowing that if a thing +troubles us, we immediately want that which will put an end to our +trouble, answered precisely as it was best to do. (5) + + (4) See Grote, "Plato," ii. 585, on Philebus. + + (5) Or, "made the happiest answer." + +Soc. Do I understand you to ask me whether I know anything good for +fever? + +No (he replied), that is not my question. + +Soc. Then for inflammation of the eyes? + +Aristip. No, nor yet that. + +Soc. Well then, for hunger? + +Aristip. No, nor yet for hunger. + +Well, but (answered Socrates) if you ask me whether I know of any good +thing which is good for nothing, I neither know of it nor want to know. + +And when Aristippus, returning to the charge, asked him "if he knew of +any thing beautiful." + +He answered: Yes, many things. + +Aristip. Are they all like each other? + +Soc. On the contrary, they are often as unlike as possible. + +How then (he asked) can that be beautiful which is unlike the beautiful? + +Soc. Bless me! for the simple reason that it is possible for a man who +is a beautiful runner to be quite unlike another man who is a beautiful +boxer, (6) or for a shield, which is a beautiful weapon for the purpose +of defence, to be absolutely unlike a javelin, which is a beautiful +weapon of swift and sure discharge. + + (6) See Grote, "H. G." x. 164, in reference to Epaminondas and his + gymnastic training; below, III. x. 6. + +Aristip. Your answers are no better now than (7) when I asked you +whether you knew any good thing. They are both of a pattern. + + (7) Or, "You answer precisely as you did when..." + +Soc. And so they should be. Do you imagine that one thing is good and +another beautiful? Do not you know that relatively to the same standard +all things are at once beautiful and good? (8) In the first place, +virtue is not a good thing relatively to one standard and a beautiful +thing relatively to another standard; and in the next place, human +beings, on the same principle (9) and relatively to the same standard, +are called "beautiful and good"; and so the bodily frames of men +relatively to the same standards are seen to be "beautiful and good," +and in general all things capable of being used by man are regarded as +at once beautiful and good relatively to the same standard--the standing +being in each case what the thing happens to be useful for. (10) + + (8) Or, "good and beautiful are convertible terms: whatever is good is + beautiful, or whatever is beautiful is good." + + (9) Or, "in the same breath." Cf. Plat. "Hipp. maj." 295 D; "Gorg." + 474 D. + + (10) Or, "and this standard is the serviceableness of the thing in + question." + +Aristip. Then I presume even a basket for carrying dung (11) is a +beautiful thing? + + (11) Cf. Plat. "Hipp. maj." 288 D, 290 D; and Grote's note, loc. cit. + p. 381: "in regard to the question wherein consists {to kalon}?" + +Soc. To be sure, and a spear of gold an ugly thing, if for their +respective uses--the former is well and the latter ill adapted. + +Aristip. Do you mean to assert that the same things may be beautiful and +ugly? + +Soc. Yes, to be sure; and by the same showing things may be good and +bad: as, for instance, what is good for hunger may be bad for fever, and +what is good for fever bad for hunger; or again, what is beautiful for +wrestling is often ugly for running; and in general everything is good +and beautiful when well adapted for the end in view, bad and ugly when +ill adapted for the same. + +Similarly when he spoke about houses, (12) and argued that "the same +house must be at once beautiful and useful"--I could not help feeling +that he was giving a good lesson on the problem: "how a house ought to +be built." He investigated the matter thus: + + (12) See K. Joel, op. cit. p. 488; "Classical Review," vii. 262. + +Soc. "Do you admit that any one purposing to build a perfect house (13) +will plan to make it at once as pleasant and as useful to live in as +possible?" and that point being admitted, (14) the next question would +be: + + (13) Or, "the ideal house"; lit. "a house as it should be." + + (14) See below, IV. vi. 15. + +"It is pleasant to have one's house cool in summer and warm in winter, +is it not?" and this proposition also having obtained assent, "Now, +supposing a house to have a southern aspect, sunshine during winter will +steal in under the verandah, (15) but in summer, when the sun traverses +a path right over our heads, the roof will afford an agreeable shade, +will it not? If, then, such an arrangement is desirable, the southern +side of a house should be built higher to catch the rays of the winter +sun, and the northern side lower to prevent the cold winds finding +ingress; in a word, it is reasonable to suppose that the pleasantest and +most beautiful dwelling place will be one in which the owner can at +all seasons of the year find the pleasantest retreat, and stow away his +goods with the greatest security." + + (15) Or, "porticoes" or "collonades." + +Paintings (16) and ornamental mouldings are apt (he said) to deprive one +of more joy (17) than they confer. + + (16) See "Econ." ix. 2; Plat. "Hipp. maj." 298 A; "Rep." 529; Becker, + "Charicles," 268 (Engl. trans.) + + (17) {euphrosunas}, archaic or "poetical" = "joyance." See "Hiero," + vi. 1. + +The fittest place for a temple or an altar (he maintained) was some site +visible from afar, and untrodden by foot of man: (18) since it was a +glad thing for the worshipper to lift up his eyes afar off and offer up +his orison; glad also to wend his way peaceful to prayer unsullied. (19) + + (18) e.g. the summit of Lycabettos, or the height on which stands the + temple of Phygaleia. Cf. Eur. "Phoen." 1372, {Pallados + khrusaspidos blepsas pros oikon euxato} of Eteocles. + + (19) See Vitruvius, i. 7, iv. 5, ap. Schneid. ad loc.; W. L. Newman, + op. cit. i. 338. + + +IX + +Being again asked by some one: could courage be taught, (1) or did +it come by nature? he answered: I imagine that just as one body is by +nature stronger than another body to encounter toils, so one soul by +nature grows more robust than another soul in face of dangers. Certainly +I do note that people brought up under the same condition of laws and +customs differ greatly in respect of daring. Still my belief is that by +learning and practice the natural aptitude may always be strengthened +towards courage. It is clear, for instance, that Scythians or +Thracians would not venture to take shield and spear and contend with +Lacedaemonians; and it is equally evident that Lacedaemonians would +demur to entering the lists of battle against Thracians if limited to +their light shields and javelins, or against Scythians without some +weapon more familiar than their bows and arrows. (2) And as far as I can +see, this principle holds generally: the natural differences of one man +from another may be compensated by artificial progress, the result of +care and attention. All which proves clearly that whether nature has +endowed us with keener or blunter sensibilities, the duty of all alike +is to learn and practise those things in which we would fain achieve +distinction. + + (1) Or, "When some one retorted upon him with the question: 'Can + courage be taught?'" and for this problem see IV. vi. 10, 11; + "Symp." ii. 12; Plat. "Lach."; "Protag." 349; "Phaedr." 269 D; K. + Joel, op. cit. p. 325 foll.; Grote, "Plato," i. 468 foll., ii. 60; + Jowett, "Plato," i. 77, 119; Newman, op. cit. i. 343. + + (2) Or, "against Thracians with light shields and javelins, or against + Scythians with bows and arrows"; and for the national arms of + these peoples respectively see Arist. "Lysistr." 563; "Anab." III. + iv. 15; VI. VII. passim. + +Between wisdom and sobriety of soul (which is temperance) he drew no +distinction. (3) Was a man able on the one hand to recognise things +beautiful and good sufficiently to live in them? Had he, on the other +hand, knowledge of the "base and foul" so as to beware of them? If so, +Socrates judged him to be wise at once and sound of soul (or temperate). +(4) + + (3) But cf. IV. vi. 7; K. Joel, op. cit. p. 363. + + (4) Reading {alla to... kai to}, or more lit. "he discovered the + wise man and sound of soul in his power not only to recognise + things 'beautiful and good,' but to live and move and have his + being in them; as also in his gift of avoiding consciously things + base." Or if {alla ton... kai ton...} transl. "The man who + not only could recognise the beautiful and good, but lived, etc., + in that world, and who moreover consciously avoided things base, in + the judgment of Socrates was wise and sound of soul." Cf. Plat. + "Charm." + +And being further questioned whether "he considered those who have +the knowledge of right action, but do not apply it, to be wise and +self-controlled?"--"Not a whit more," he answered, "than I consider them +to be unwise and intemperate. (5) Every one, I conceive, deliberately +chooses what, within the limits open to him, he considers most conducive +to his interest, and acts accordingly. I must hold therefore that +those who act against rule and crookedly (6) are neither wise nor +self-controlled. + + (5) For the phrase "not a whit the more" see below, III. xii. 1; + "Econ." xii. 18. Al. "I should by no means choose to consider them + wise and self-controlled rather than foolish and intemperate." + + (6) "Who cannot draw a straight line, ethically speaking." + +He said that justice, moreover, and all other virtue is wisdom. That is +to say, things just, and all things else that are done with virtue, +are "beautiful and good"; and neither will those who know these things +deliberately choose aught else in their stead, nor will he who lacks the +special knowledge of them be able to do them, but even if he makes the +attempt he will miss the mark and fail. So the wise alone can perform +the things which are "beautiful and good"; they that are unwise cannot, +but even if they try they fail. Therefore, since all things just, and +generally all things "beautiful and good," are wrought with virtue, it +is clear that justice and all other virtue is wisdom. + +On the other hand, madness (he maintained) was the opposite to wisdom; +not that he regarded simple ignorance as madness, (7) but he put it +thus: for a man to be ignorant of himself, to imagine and suppose that +he knows what he knows not, was (he argued), if not madness itself, +yet something very like it. The mass of men no doubt hold a different +language: if a man is all abroad on some matter of which the mass of +mankind are ignorant, they do not pronounce him "mad"; (8) but a like +aberration of mind, if only it be about matters within the scope +of ordinary knowledge, they call madness. For instance, any one who +imagined himself too tall to pass under a gateway of the Long Wall +without stooping, or so strong as to try to lift a house, or to attempt +any other obvious impossibility, is a madman according to them; but in +the popular sense he is not mad, if his obliquity is confined to small +matters. In fact, just as strong desire goes by the name of passion +in popular parlance, so mental obliquity on a grand scale is entitled +madness. + + (7) See K. Joel, op. cit. p. 346; Grote, "Plato," i. 400. + + (8) Or, "they resent the term 'mad' being applied to people who are + all abroad," etc. See Comte, "Pos. Pol." i. 575; ii. 373 (Engl. + trans.) + +In answer to the question: what is envy? he discovered it to be a +certain kind of pain; not certainly the sorrow felt at the misfortunes +of a friend or the good fortune of an enemy--that is not envy; but, as +he said, "envy is felt by those alone who are annoyed at the successes +of their friends." And when some one or other expressed astonishment +that any one friendlily disposed to another should be pained at his +well-doing, he reminded him of a common tendency in people: when any one +is faring ill their sympathies are touched, they rush to the aid of the +unfortunate; but when fortune smiles on others, they are somehow pained. +"I do not say," he added, "this could happen to a thoughtful person; but +it is no uncommon condition of a silly mind." (9) + + (9) Or, "a man in his senses... a simpleton"; for the sentiment L. + Dind. cf. Isocr. "ad Demonic." 7 D. + +In answer to the question: what is leisure? I discover (he said) that +most men do something: (10) for instance, the dice player, (11) the +gambler, the buffoon, do something, but these have leisure; they can, if +they like, turn and do something better; but nobody has leisure to turn +from the better to the worse, and if he does so turn, when he has no +leisure, he does but ill in that. + + (10) See above, I. ii. 57; and in ref. to these definitions, K. Joel, + op. cit. p. 347 foll. + + (11) For "dice-playing" see Becker, "Charicl." 354 (Engl. trans.); for + "buffoonery," ib. 98; "Symp." + +(To pass to another definition.) They are not kings or rulers (he said) +who hold the sceptre merely, or are chosen by fellows out of the street, +(12) or are appointed by lot, or have stepped into office by violence +or by fraud; but those who have the special knowledge (13) how to rule. +Thus having won the admission that it is the function of a ruler to +enjoin what ought to be done, and of those who are ruled to obey, he +proceeded to point out by instances that in a ship the ruler or captain +is the man of special knowledge, to whom, as an expert, the shipowner +himself and all the others on board obey. So likewise, in the matter +of husbandry, the proprietor of an estate; in that of sickness, the +patient; in that of physical training of the body, the youthful athlete +going through a course; and, in general, every one directly concerned in +any matter needing attention and care will either attend to this +matter personally, if he thinks he has the special knowledge; or, if he +mistrusts his own science, will be eager to obey any expert on the spot, +or will even send and fetch one from a distance. The guidance of this +expert he will follow, and do what he has to do at his dictation. + + (12) Tom, Dick, and Harry (as we say). + + (13) The {episteme}. See above, III. v. 21; Newman, op. cit. i. 256. + +And thus, in the art of spinning wool, he liked to point out that women +are the rulers of men--and why? because they have the knowledge of the +art, and men have not. + +And if any one raised the objection that a tyrant has it in his power +not to obey good and correct advice, he would retort: "Pray, how has +he the option not to obey, considering the penalty hanging over him who +disobeys the words of wisdom? for whatever the matter be in which he +disobeys the word of good advice, he will fall into error, I presume, +and falling into error, be punished." And to the suggestion that the +tyrant could, if he liked, cut off the head of the man of wisdom, his +answer was: "Do you think that he who destroys his best ally will go +scot free, or suffer a mere slight and passing loss? Is he more likely +to secure his salvation that way, think you, or to compass his own swift +destruction?" (14) + + (14) Or, "Is that to choose the path of safety, think you? Is it not + rather to sign his own death-warrent?" L. Dind. cf. Hesiod, "Works + and Days," 293. See Newman, op. cit. i. 393-397. + +When some one asked him: "What he regarded as the best pursuit or +business (15) for a man?" he answered: "Successful conduct"; (16) and +to a second question: "Did he then regard good fortune as an end to +be pursued?"--"On the contrary," he answered, "for myself, I consider +fortune and conduct to be diametrically opposed. For instance, to +succeed in some desirable course of action without seeking to do so, I +hold to be good fortune; but to do a thing well by dint of learning and +practice, that according to my creed is successful conduct, (17) and +those who make this the serious business of their life seem to me to do +well." + + (15) Or, "the noblest study." + + (16) {eupraxia, eu prattein}--to do well, in the sense both of well or + right doing, and of welfare, and is accordingly opposed to + {eutukhia}, mere good luck or success. Cf. Plat. "Euthyd." 281 B. + + (17) Lit. "well-doing"; and for the Socratic view see Newman, op. cit. + i. 305, 401. + +They are at once the best and the dearest in the sight of God (18) (he +went on to say) who for instance in husbandry do well the things of +farming, or in the art of healing all that belongs to healing, or +in statecraft the affairs of state; whereas a man who does nothing +well--nor well in anything--is (he added) neither good for anything nor +dear to God. + + (18) Or, "most divinely favoured." Cf. Plat. "Euthyphro," 7 A. + + +X + +But indeed, (1) if chance brought him into conversation with any one +possessed of an art, and using it for daily purposes of business, he +never failed to be useful to this kind of person. For instance, stepping +one time into the studio of Parrhasius (2) the painter, and getting into +conversation with him-- + + (1) {alla men kai}... "But indeed the sphere of his helpfulness was + not circumscribed; if," etc. + + (2) For Parrhasius of Ephesus, the son of Evenor and rival of Zeuxis, + see Woltmann and Woermann, "Hist. of Painting," p. 47 foll.; + Cobet, "Pros. Xen." p. 50 (cf. in particular Quint. XII. x. 627). + At the date of conversation (real or ideal) he may be supposed to + have been a young man. + +I suppose, Parrhasius (said he), painting may be defined as "a +representation of visible objects," may it not? (3) That is to say, by +means of colours and palette you painters represent and reproduce as +closely as possible the ups and downs, lights and shadows, hard and +soft, rough and smooth surfaces, the freshness of youth and the wrinkles +of age, do you not? + + (3) Reading with Schneider, L. Dind., etc., after Stobaeus, {e + graphike estin eikasia}, or if the vulg. {graphike estin e + eikasia}, trans. "Painting is the term applied to a particular + representation," etc. + +You are right (he answered), that is so. + +Soc. Further, in portraying ideal types of beauty, seeing it is not easy +to light upon any one human being who is absolutely devoid of blemish, +you cull from many models the most beautiful traits of each, and so make +your figures appear completely beautiful? (4) + + (4) Cf. Cic. "de Invent." ii. 1 ad in. of Zeuxis; Max. Tur. "Dissert." + 23, 3, ap. Schneider ad loc. + +Parrh. Yes, that is how we do. (5) + + (5) Or, "that is the secret of our creations," or "our art of + composition." + +Well, but stop (Socrates continued); do you also pretend to represent in +similar perfection the characteristic moods of the soul, its captivating +charm and sweetness, with its deep wells of love, its intensity of +yearning, its burning point of passion? or is all this quite incapable +of being depicted? + +Nay (he answered), how should a mood be other than inimitable, Socrates, +when it possesses neither linear proportion (6) nor colour, nor any of +those qualities which you named just now; when, in a word, it is not +even visible? + + (6) Lit. "symmetry." Cf. Plin. xxxv. 10, "primus symmetriam picturae + dedit," etc. + +Soc. Well, but the kindly look of love, the angry glance of hate at any +one, do find expression in the human subject, do they not? (7) + + (7) Or, "the glance of love, the scowl of hate, which one directs + towards another, are recognised expressions of human feeling." Cf. + the description of Parrhasius's own portrait of Demos, ap. Plin. + loc. cit. + +Parrh. No doubt they do. + +Soc. Then this look, this glance, at any rate may be imitated in the +eyes, may it not? + +Undoubtedly (he answered). + +Soc. And do anxiety and relief of mind occasioned by the good or evil +fortune of those we love both wear the same expression? + +By no means (he answered); at the thought of good we are radiant, at +that of evil a cloud hangs on the brow. + +Soc. Then here again are looks with it is possible to represent? + +Parrh. Decidedly. + +Soc. Furthermore, as through some chink or crevice, there pierces +through the countenance of a man, through the very posture of his body +as he stands or moves, a glimpse of his nobility and freedom, or again +of something in him low and grovelling--the calm of self-restraint, and +wisdom, or the swagger of insolence and vulgarity? + +You are right (he answered). + +Soc. Then these too may be imitated? + +No doubt (he said). + +Soc. And which is the pleasanter type of face to look at, do you +think--one on which is imprinted the characteristics of a beautiful, +good, and lovable disposition, or one which bears the impress of what is +ugly, and bad, and hateful? (8) + + (8) For this theory cp. Ruskin, "Mod. P." ii. 94 foll. and indeed + passim. + +Parrh. Doubtless, Socrates, there is a vast distinction between the two. + +At another time he entered the workshop of the sculptor Cleiton, (9) and +in course of conversation with him said: + + (9) An unknown artist. Coraes conj. {Kleona}. Cf. Plin. xxxiv. 19; + Paus. v. 17, vi. 3. He excelled in portrait statues. See Jowett, + "Plato," iv.; "Laws," p. 123. + +You have a gallery of handsome people here, (10) Cleiton, runners, and +wrestlers, and boxers, and pancratiasts--that I see and know; but how +do you give the magic touch of life to your creations, which most of all +allures the soul of the beholder through his sense of vision? + + (10) Reading after L. Dind. {kaloi ous}, or if vulg. {alloious}, + translate "You have a variety of types, Cleiton, not all of one + mould, but runners," etc.; al. "I see quite well how you give the + diversity of form to your runners," etc. + +As Cleiton stood perplexed, and did not answer at once, Socrates added: +Is it by closely imitating the forms of living beings that you succeed +in giving that touch of life to your statues? + +No doubt (he answered). + +Soc. It is, is it not, by faithfully copying the various muscular +contractions of the body in obedience to the play of gesture and poise, +the wrinklings of flesh and the sprawl of limbs, the tensions and +the relaxations, that you succeed in making your statues like real +beings--make them "breathe" as people say? + +Cleit. Without a doubt. + +Soc. And does not the faithful imitation of the various affections of +the body when engaged in any action impart a particular pleasure to the +beholder? + +Cleit. I should say so. + +Soc. Then the threatenings in the eyes of warriors engaged in battle +should be carefully copied, or again you should imitate the aspect of a +conqueror radiant with success? + +Cleit. Above all things. + +Soc. It would seem then that the sculptor is called upon to incorporate +in his ideal form the workings and energies also of the soul? + +Paying a visit to Pistias, (11) the corselet maker, when that artist +showed him some exquisite samples of his work, Socrates exclaimed: + + (11) Cf. Athen. iv. 20, where the same artist is referred to + apparently as {Piston}, and for the type of person see the + "Portrait of a Tailor" by Moroni in the National Gallery--see + "Handbook," Edw. T. Cook, p. 152. + +By Hera! a pretty invention this, Pistias, by which you contrive that +the corselet should cover the parts of the person which need protection, +and at the same time leave free play to the arms and hands.... but +tell me, Pistias (he added), why do you ask a higher price for these +corselets of yours if they are not stouter or made of costlier material +than the others? + +Because, Socrates (he answered), mine are of much finer proportion. + +Soc. Proportion! Then how do you make this quality apparent to the +customer so as to justify the higher price--by measure or weight? For +I presume you cannot make them all exactly equal and of one pattern--if +you make them fit, as of course you do? + +Fit indeed! that I most distinctly do (he answered), take my word for +it: no use in a corselet without that. + +But then are not the wearer's bodies themselves (asked Socrates) some +well proportioned and others ill? + +Decidedly so (he answered). + +Soc. Then how do you manage to make the corselet well proportioned if it +is to fit an ill-proportioned body? (12) + + (12) Or, "how do you make a well-proportioned corselet fit an ill- + proportioned body? how well proportioned?" + +Pist. To the same degree exactly as I make it fit. What fits is well +proportioned. + +Soc. It seems you use the term "well-proportioned" not in an absolute +sense, but in reference to the wearer, just as you might describe a +shield as well proportioned to the individual it suits; and so of a +military cloak, and so of the rest of things, in your terminology? But +maybe there is another considerable advantage in this "fitting"? + +Pist. Pray instruct me, Socrates, if you have got an idea. + +Soc. A corselet which fits is less galling by its weight than one which +does not fit, for the latter must either drag from the shoulders with a +dead weight or press upon some other part of the body, and so it becomes +troublesome and uncomfortable; but that which fits, having its weight +distributed partly along the collar-bone and shoulder-blade, partly +over the shoulders and chest, and partly the back and belly, feels like +another natural integument rather than an extra load to carry. (13) + + (13) Schneider ad loc. cf Eur. "Electr." 192, {prosthemata aglaias}, + and for the weight cf. Aristoph. "Peace," 1224. + +Pist. You have named the very quality which gives my work its +exceptional value, as I consider; still there are customers, I am bound +to say, who look for something else in a corselet--they must have them +ornamental or inlaid with gold. + +For all that (replied Socrates), if they end by purchasing +an ill-fitting article, they only become the proprietors of a +curiously-wrought and gilded nuisance, as it seems to me. But (he +added), as the body is never in one fixed position, but is at one time +curved, at another raised erect how can an exactly-modelled corselet +fit? + +Pist. It cannot fit at all. + +You mean (Socrates continued) that it is not the exactly-modelled +corselet which fits, but that which does not gall the wearer in the +using? + +Pist. There, Socrates, you have hit the very point. I see you understand +the matter most precisely. (14) + + (14) Or, "There, Socrates, you have hit the very phrase. I could not + state the matter more explicitly myself." + + +XI + +There was once in the city a fair woman named Theodote. (1) She was +not only fair, but ready to consort with any suitor who might win her +favour. Now it chanced that some one of the company mentioned her, +saying that her beauty beggared description. "So fair is she," he added, +"that painters flock to draw her portrait, to whom, within the limits of +decorum, she displays the marvels of her beauty." "Then there is nothing +for it but to go and see her," answered Socrates, "since to comprehend +by hearsay what is beyond description is clearly impossible." Then he +who had introduced the matter replied: "Be quick then to follow me"; and +on this wise they set off to seek Theodote. They found her "posing" to a +certain painter; and they took their stand as spectators. Presently the +painter had ceased his work; whereupon Socrates: + + (1) For Theodote see Athen. v. 200 F, xiii. 574 F; Liban. i. 582. Some + say that it was Theodote who stood by Alcibiades to the last, + though there are apparently other better claimants to the honour. + Plut. "Alc." (Clough, ii. p. 50). + +"Do you think, sirs, that we ought to thank Theodote for displaying her +beauty to us, or she us for coming to gaze at her?... It would +seem, would it not, that if the exhibition of her charms is the more +profitable to her, the debt is on her side; but if the spectacle of her +beauty confers the greater benefit on us, then we are her debtors." + +Some one answered that "was an equitable statement of the case." + +Well then (he continued), as far as she is concerned, the praise we +bestow on her is an immediate gain; and presently, when we have spread +her fame abroad, she will be further benefited; but for ourselves the +immediate effect on us is a strong desire to touch what we have seen; +by and by, too, we shall go away with a sting inside us, and when we +are fairly gone we shall be consumed with longing. Consequently it seems +that we should do her service and she accept our court. + +Whereupon Theodote: Oh dear! if that is how the matter stands, it is I +who am your debtor for the spectacle. (2) + + (2) In reference to the remark of Socrates above; or, "have to thank + you for coming to look at me." + +At this point, seeing that the lady herself was expensively attired, +and that she had with her her mother also, whose dress and style +of attendance (3) were out of the common, not to speak of the +waiting-women--many and fair to look upon, who presented anything but +a forlorn appearance; while in every respect the whole house itself was +sumptuously furnished--Socrates put a question: + + (3) Or, "her mother there with her in a dress and general get-up + ({therapeia}) which was out of the common." See Becker, + "Charicles," p. 247 (Eng. tr.) + +Pray tell me, Theodote, have you an estate in the country? + +Theod. Not I indeed. + +Soc. Then perhaps you possess a house and large revenues along with it? + +Theod. No, nor yet a house. + +Soc. You are not an employer of labour on a large scale? (4) + + (4) Lit. "You have not (in your employ) a body of handicraftsmen of + any sort?" + +Theod. No, nor yet an employer of labour. + +Soc. From what source, then, do you get your means of subsistence? (5) + + (5) Or, Anglice, "derive your income." + +Theod. My friends are my life and fortune, when they care to be kind to +me. + +Soc. By heaven, Theodote, a very fine property indeed, and far better +worth possessing than a multitude of sheep or goats or cattle. A flock +of friends!... But (he added) do you leave it to fortune whether a +friend lights like a fly on your hand at random, or do you use any +artifice (6) yourself to attract him? + + (6) Or, "means and appliances," "machinery." + +Theod. And how might I hit upon any artifice to attract him? + +Soc. Bless me! far more naturally than any spider. You know how they +capture the creatures on which they live; (7) by weaving webs of +gossamer, is it not? and woe betide the fly that tumbles into their +toils! They eat him up. + + (7) Lit. "the creatures on which they live." + +Theod. So then you would counsel me to weave myself some sort of net? + +Soc. Why, surely you do not suppose you are going to ensnare that +noblest of all game--a lover, to wit--in so artless a fashion? Do you +not see (to speak of a much less noble sort of game) what a number of +devices are needed to bag a hare? (8) The creatures range for their food +at night; therefore the hunter must provide himself with night dogs. +At peep of dawn they are off as fast as they can run. He must therefore +have another pack of dogs to scent out and discover which way they +betake them from their grazing ground to their forms; (9) and as they +are so fleet of foot that they run and are out of sight in no time, he +must once again be provided with other fleet-footed dogs to follow their +tracks and overtake them; (10) and as some of them will give even these +the slip, he must, last of all, set up nets on the paths at the points +of escape, so that they may fall into the meshes and be caught. + + (8) See the author's own treatise on "Hunting," vi. 6 foll. + + (9) Lit. "from pasture to bed." + + (10) Or, "close at their heels and run them down." See "Hunting"; cf. + "Cyrop." I. vi. 40. + +Theod. And by what like contrivance would you have me catch my lovers? + +Soc. Well now! what if in place of a dog you can get a man who will hunt +up your wealthy lover of beauty and discover his lair, and having found +him, will plot and plan to throw him into your meshes? + +Theod. Nay, what sort of meshes have I? + +Soc. One you have, and a close-folding net it is, (11) I trow; to wit, +your own person; and inside it sits a soul that teaches you (12) with +what looks to please and with what words to cheer; how, too, with smiles +you are to welcome true devotion, but to exclude all wantons from your +presence. (13) It tells you, you are to visit your beloved in sickness +with solicitude, and when he has wrought some noble deed you are greatly +to rejoice with him; and to one who passionately cares for you, you are +to make surrender of yourself with heart and soul. The secret of true +love I am sure you know: not to love softly merely, but devotedly. (14) +And of this too I am sure: you can convince your lovers of your fondness +for them not by lip phrases, but by acts of love. + + (11) Or, "right well woven." + + (12) Lit. "by which you understand." + + (13) Or, "with what smiles to lie in wait for (cf. 'Cyrop.' II. iv. + 20; Herod. vi. 104) the devoted admirer, and how to banish from + your presence the voluptary." + + (14) Or, "that it should be simply soft, but full of tender goodwill." + +Theod. No, upon my word, I have none of these devices. + +Soc. And yet it makes all the difference whether you approach a human +being in the natural and true way, since it is not by force certainly +that you can either catch or keep a friend. Kindness and pleasure +are the only means to capture this fearful wild-fowl man and keep him +constant. + +Theod. You are right. + +Soc. In the first place you must make such demands only of your +well-wisher as he can grant without repentance; and in the next place +you must make requital, dispensing your favours with a like economy. +Thus you will best make friends whose love shall last the longest and +their generosity know no stint. (15) And for your favours you will best +win your friends if you suit your largess to their penury; for, mark +you, the sweetest viands presented to a man before he wants them are apt +to prove insipid, or, to one already sated, even nauseous; but create +hunger, and even coarser stuff seems honey-sweet. + + (15) Or, "This is the right road to friendship--permanent and open- + handed friendship." + +Theod. How then shall I create this hunger in the heart of my friends? + +Soc. In the first place you must not offer or make suggestion of your +dainties to jaded appetites until satiety has ceased and starvation +cries for alms. Even then shall you make but a faint suggestion to their +want, with modest converse--like one who would fain bestow a kindness... +and lo! the vision fades and she is gone--until the very pinch of +hunger; for the same gifts have then a value unknown before the moment +of supreme desire. + +Then Theodote: Oh why, Socrates, why are you not by my side (like the +huntsman's assistant) to help me catch my friends and lovers? + +Soc. That will I be in good sooth if only you can woo and win me. + +Theod. How shall I woo and win you? + +Soc. Seek and you will find means, if you truly need me. + +Theod. Come then in hither and visit me often. + +And Socrates, poking sly fun at his own lack of business occupation, +answered: Nay, Theodote, leisure is not a commodity in which I largely +deal. I have a hundred affairs of my own too, private or public, to +occupy me; and then there are my lady-loves, my dear friends, who will +not suffer me day or night to leave them, for ever studying to learn +love-charms and incantations at my lips. + +Theod. Why, are you really versed in those things, Socrates? + +Soc. Of course, or else how is it, do you suppose, that Apollodorus (16) +here and Antisthenes never leave me; or why have Cebes and Simmias come +all the way from Thebes to stay with me? Be assured these things cannot +happen without diverse love-charms and incantations and magic wheels. + + (16) For Apollodorus see "Apol." 28; Plat. "Symp." 172 A; "Phaed." 59 + A, 117 D. For Antisthenes see above. For Cebes and Simmias see + above, I. ii. 48; Plat. "Crit." 45 B; "Phaed." passim. + +Theod. I wish you would lend me your magic-wheel, (17) then, and I will +set it spinning first of all for you. + + (17) Cf. Theocr. ii. 17; Schneider ad loc. + +Soc. Ah! but I do not wish to be drawn to you. I wish you to come to me. + +Theod. Then I will come. Only, will you be "at home" to me? + +Soc. Yes, I will welcome you, unless some one still dearer holds me +engaged, and I must needs be "not at home." + + +XII + +Seeing one of those who were with him, a young man, but feeble of body, +named Epigenes, (1) he addressed him. + + (1) Epigenes, possibly the son of Antiphon. See Plat. "Apol." 33 E; + "Phaed." 59 B. + +Soc. You have not the athletic appearance of a youth in training, (2) +Epigenes. + + (2) {idiotikos}, lit. of the person untrained in gymnastics. See A. R. + Cluer ad loc. Cf. Plat. "Laws," 839 E; I. ii. 4; III. v. 15; + "Symp." ii. 17. + +And he: That may well be, seeing I am an amateur and not in training. + +Soc. As little of an amateur, I take it, as any one who ever entered the +lists of Olympia, unless you are prepared to make light of that contest +for life and death against the public foe which the Athenians will +institute when the day comes. (3) And yet they are not a few who, owing +to a bad habit of body, either perish outright in the perils of war, or +are ignobly saved. Many are they who for the self-same cause are taken +prisoners, and being taken must, if it so betide, endure the pains of +slavery for the rest of their days; or, after falling into dolorous +straits, (4) when they have paid to the uttermost farthing of all, or +may be more than the worth of all, that they possess, must drag on +a miserable existence in want of the barest necessaries until death +release them. Many also are they who gain an evil repute through +infirmity of body, being thought to play the coward. Can it be that you +despise these penalties affixed to an evil habit? Do you think you +could lightly endure them? Far lighter, I imagine, nay, pleasant even +by comparison, are the toils which he will undergo who duly cultivates +a healthy bodily condition. Or do you maintain that the evil habit +is healthier, and in general more useful than the good? Do you pour +contempt upon those blessings which flow from the healthy state? And +yet the very opposite of that which befalls the ill attends the +sound condition. Does not the very soundness imply at once health and +strength? (5) Many a man with no other talisman than this has passed +safely through the ordeal of war; stepping, not without dignity, (6) +through all its horrors unscathed. Many with no other support than this +have come to the rescue of friends, or stood forth as benefactors of +their fatherland; whereby they were thought worthy of gratitude, and +obtained a great renown and received as a recompense the highest honours +of the State; to whom is also reserved a happier and brighter passage +through what is left to them of life, and at their death they leave +to their children the legacy of a fairer starting-point in the race of +life. + + (3) Or, "should chance betide." Is the author thinking of a life-and- + death struggle with Thebes? + + (4) e.g. the prisoners in the Latomiae. Thuc. vii. 87. + + (5) It is almost a proverb--"Sound of body and limb is hale and + strong." "Qui valet praevalebit." + + (6) e.g. Socrates himself, according to Alcibiades, ap. Plat. "Symp." + 221 B; and for the word {euskhemonos} see Arist. "Wasps," 1210, + "like a gentleman"; L. and S.; "Cyr." I. iii. 8; Aristot. "Eth. + N." i. 10, 13, "gracefully." + +Because our city does not practise military training in public, (7) +that is no reason for neglecting it in private, but rather a reason for +making it a foremost care. For be you assured that there is no contest +of any sort, nor any transaction, in which you will be the worse off for +being well prepared in body; and in fact there is nothing which men do +for which the body is not a help. In every demand, therefore, which can +be laid upon the body it is much better that it should be in the best +condition; since, even where you might imagine the claims upon the body +to be slightest--in the act of reasoning--who does not know the terrible +stumbles which are made through being out of health? It suffices to say +that forgetfulness, and despondency, and moroseness, and madness take +occasion often of ill-health to visit the intellectual faculties so +severely as to expel all knowledge (8) from the brain. But he who is in +good bodily plight has large security. He runs no risk of incurring any +such catastrophe through ill-health at any rate; he has the expectation +rather that a good habit must procure consequences the opposite to those +of an evil habit; (9) and surely to this end there is nothing a man in +his senses would not undergo.... It is a base thing for a man to wax old +in careless self-neglect before he has lifted up his eyes and seen +what manner of man he was made to be, in the full perfection of bodily +strength and beauty. But these glories are withheld from him who is +guilty of self-neglect, for they are not wont to blaze forth unbidden. +(10) + + (7) Cf. "Pol. Ath." i. 13; and above, III. v. 15. + + (8) Or, "whole branches of knowledge" ({tas epistemas}). + + (9) Or, "he may well hope to be insured by his good habit against the + evils attendant on its opposite." + + (10) Or, "to present themselves spontaneously." + + +XII + +Once when some one was in a fury of indignation because he had bidden a +passer-by good-day and the salutation was not returned, Socrates +said: "It is enough to make one laugh! If you met a man in a wretched +condition of body, you would not fall into a rage; but because you +stumble upon a poor soul somewhat boorishly disposed, you feel annoyed." + +To the remark of another who complained that he did not take his food +with pleasure, he said: "Acumenus (1) has a good prescription for that." +And when the other asked: "And what may that be?" "To stop eating," he +said. "On the score of pleasure, economy, and health, total abstinence +has much in its favour." (2) + + (1) A well-known physician. See Plat. "Phaedr." 227 A, 269 A; "Symp." + 176 B. A similar story is told of Dr. Abernethy, I think. + + (2) Lit. "he would live a happier, thriftier, and healthier life, if + he stopped eating." + +And when some one else lamented that "the drinking-water in his house +was hot," he replied: "Then when you want a warm bath you will not have +to wait." + +The Other. But for bathing purposes it is cold. + +Soc. Do you find that your domestics seem to mind drinking it or washing +in it? + +The Other. Quite the reverse; it is a constant marvel to me how +contentedly they use it for either purpose. + +Soc. Which is hotter to the taste--the water in your house or the hot +spring in the temple of Asclepius? (3) + + (3) In the Hieron at Epidauros probably. See Baedeker, "Greece," p. + 240 foll. + +The Other. The water in the temple of Asclepius. + +Soc. And which is colder for bathing--yours or the cold spring in the +cave of Amphiaraus? (4) + + (4) Possibly at Oropos. Cf. Paus. i. 34. 3. + +The Other. The water in the cave of Amphiaraus. + +Soc. Then please to observe: if you do not take care, they will set you +down as harder to please than a domestic servant or an invalid. (5) + + (5) i.e. "the least and the most fastidious of men." + +A man had administered a severe whipping to the slave in attendance +on him, and when Socrates asked: "Why he was so wroth with his own +serving-man?" excused himself on the ground that "the fellow was a lazy, +gourmandising, good-for-nothing dolt--fonder of money than of work." To +which Socrates: "Did it ever strike you to consider which of the two in +that case the more deserves a whipping--the master or the man?" + +When some one was apprehending the journey to Olympia, "Why are you +afraid of the long distance?" he asked. "Here at home you spend nearly +all your day in taking walks. (6) Well, on your road to Olympia you will +take a walk and breakfast, and then you will take another walk and dine, +and go to bed. Do you not see, if you take and tack together five or six +days' length of walks, and stretch them out in one long line, it will +soon reach from Athens to Olympia? I would recommend you, however, +to set off a day too soon rather than a day too late. To be forced to +lengthen the day's journey beyond a reasonable amount may well be a +nuisance; but to take one day's journey beyond what is necessary is pure +relaxation. Make haste to start, I say, and not while on the road." (7) + + (6) {peripateis}, "promenading up and down." + + (7) "Festina lente"--that is your motto. + +When some one else remarked "he was utterly prostrated after a long +journey," Socrates asked him: "Had he had any baggage to carry?" + +"Not I," replied the complainer; "only my cloak." + +Soc. Were you travelling alone, or was your man-servant with you? + +He. Yes, I had my man. + +Soc. Empty-handed, or had he something to carry? + +He. Of course; carrying my rugs and other baggage. + +Soc. And how did he come off on the journey? + +He. Better than I did myself, I take it. + +Soc. Well, but now suppose you had had to carry his baggage, what would +your condition have been like? + +He. Sorry enough, I can tell you; or rather, I could not have carried it +at all. + +Soc. What a confession! Fancy being capable of so much less toil than +a poor slave boy! Does that sound like the perfection of athletic +training? + + +XIV + +On the occasion of a common dinner-party (1) where some of the company +would present themselves with a small, and others with a large supply +of viands, Socrates would bid the servants (2) throw the small supplies +into the general stock, or else to help each of the party to a share all +round. Thus the grand victuallers were ashamed in the one case not +to share in the common stock, and in the other not to throw in their +supplies also. (3) Accordingly in went the grand supplies into the +common stock. And now, being no better off than the small contributors, +they soon ceased to cater for expensive delicacies. + + (1) For the type of entertainment see Becker, "Charicles," p. 315 + (Eng. tr.) + + (2) "The boy." + + (3) Or, "were ashamed not to follow suit by sharing in the common + stock and contributing their own portion." + +At a supper-party one member of the company, as Socrates chanced to +note, had put aside the plain fare and was devoting himself to certain +dainties. (4) A discussion was going on about names and definitions, +and the proper applications of terms to things. (5) Whereupon Socrates, +appealing to the company: "Can we explain why we call a man a 'dainty +fellow'? What is the particular action to which the term applies? +(6)--since every one adds some dainty to his food when he can get it. +(7) But we have not quite hit the definition yet, I think. Are we to be +called dainty eaters because we like our bread buttered?" (8) + + (4) For the distinction between {sitos} and {opson} see Plat. "Rep." + 372 C. + + (5) Or, "The conversation had fallen upon names: what is the precise + thing denoted under such and such a term? Define the meaning of so + and so." + + (6) {opsophagos} = {opson} (or relish) eater, and so a "gourmand" or + "epicure"; but how to define a gourmand? + + (7) Lit. "takes some {opson} (relish) to his {sitos} (food)." + + (8) Lit. "simply for that" (sc. the taking of some sort of {opson}. + For {epi touto} cf. Plat. "Soph." 218 C; "Parmen." 147 D.) + +No! hardly! (some member of the company replied). + +Soc. Well, but now suppose a man confine himself to eating venison or +other dainty without any plain food at all, not as a matter of training, +(9) but for the pleasure of it: has such a man earned the title? "The +rest of the world would have a poor chance against him," (10) some +one answered. "Or," interposed another, "what if the dainty dishes he +devours are out of all proportion to the rest of his meal--what of him?" +(11) + + (9) Lit. "{opson} (relish) by itself, not for the sake of training," + etc. The English reader wil bear in mind that a raw beefsteak or + other meat prescribed by the gymnastic trainer in preference to + farinaceous food ({sitos}) would be {opson}. + + (10) Or, more lit. "Hardly any one could deserve the appellation + better." + + (11) Lit. "and what of the man who eats much {opson} on the top of a + little ({sitos})?" {epesthion} = follows up one course by another, + like the man in a fragment of Euripides, "Incert." 98: {kreasi + boeiois khlora suk' epesthien}, who "followed up his beefsteak + with a garnish of green figs." + +Soc. He has established a very fair title at any rate to the +appellation, and when the rest of the world pray to heaven for a fine +harvest: "May our corn and oil increase!" he may reasonably ejaculate, +"May my fleshpots multiply!" + +At this last sally the young man, feeling that the conversation set +somewhat in his direction, did not desist indeed from his savoury +viands, but helped himself generously to a piece of bread. Socrates was +all-observant, and added: Keep an eye on our friend yonder, you others +next him, and see fair play between the sop and the sauce. (12) + + (12) Lit. "see whether he will make a relish of the staple or a staple + of the relish" ("butter his bread or bread his butter"). + +Another time, seeing one of the company using but one sop of bread +(13) to test several savoury dishes, he remarked: Could there be a more +extravagant style of cookery, or more murderous to the dainty dishes +themselves, than this wholesale method of taking so many dishes +together?--why, bless me, twenty different sorts of seasoning at one +swoop! (14) First of all he mixes up actually more ingredients than the +cook himself prescribes, which is extravagant; and secondly, he has the +audacity to commingle what the chef holds incongruous, whereby if the +cooks are right in their method he is wrong in his, and consequently the +destroyer of their art. Now is it not ridiculous first to procure the +greatest virtuosi to cook for us, and then without any claim to their +skill to take and alter their procedure? But there is a worse thing in +store for the bold man who habituates himself to eat a dozen dishes at +once: when there are but few dishes served, out of pure habit he will +feel himself half starved, whilst his neighbour, accustomed to send his +sop down by help of a single relish, will feast merrily, be the dishes +never so few. + + (13) {psomos}, a sop or morsel of bread (cf. {psomion}, N. T., in mod. + Greek = "bread"). + + (14) Huckleberry Finn (p. 2 of that young person's "Adventures") + propounds the rationale of the system: "In a barrel of odds and + ends it is different; things get mixed up, and the juice kind of + swaps around, and the things go better." + +He had a saying that {euokheisthai}, to "make good cheer," (15) was +in Attic parlance a synonym for "eating," and the affix {eu} (the +attributive "good") connoted the eating of such things as would not +trouble soul or body, and were not far to seek or hard to find. So +that to "make good cheer" in his vocabulary applied to a modest and +well-ordered style of living. (16) + + (15) {euokheisthai}, cf. "Cyrop." IV. v. 7; "Pol. Ath." ii. 9; Kuhner + cf. Eustah. "ad Il." ii. p. 212, 37, {'Akhaioi ten trophen okhen + legousin oxutonos}. Athen. viii. 363 B. See "Hipparch," viii. 4, + of horses. Cf. Arist. "H. A." viii. 6. + + (16) See "Symp." vi. 7; and for similar far-fetched etymologies, Plat. + "Crat." passim. + + + + +BOOK IV + + +I + +Such was Socrates; so helpful under all circumstances and in every +way that no observer, gifted with ordinary sensibility, could fail to +appreciate the fact, that to be with Socrates, and to spend long time +in his society (no matter where or what the circumstances), was indeed +a priceless gain. Even the recollection of him, when he was no longer +present, was felt as no small benefit by those who had grown accustomed +to be with him, and who accepted him. Nor indeed was he less helpful to +his acquaintance in his lighter than in his graver moods. + +Let us take as an example that saying of his, so often on his lips: +"I am in love with so and so"; and all the while it was obvious the +going-forth of his soul was not towards excellence of body in the bloom +of beauty, but rather towards faculties of the soul unfolding in virtue. +(1) And these "good natures" he detected by certain tokens: a readiness +to learn that to which the attention was directed; a power of retaining +in the memory the lessons learnt; and a passionate predilection for +those studies in particular which serve to good administration of a +house or of a state, (2) and in general to the proper handling of +man and human affairs. Such beings, he maintained, needed only to +be educated (3) to become not only happy themselves and happy +administrators of their private households, but to be capable of +rendering other human beings as states or individuals happy also. + + (1) Or, "not excellence of body in respect of beauty, but of the soul + as regards virtue; and this good natural disposition might be + detected by the readiness of its possessor to learn," etc. Cf. + Plat. "Rep." 535 B. + + (2) Cf. above, I. i. 7. + + (3) Or, "A person of this type would, if educated, not only prove a + fortune-favoured individual himself and," etc. Al. Kuhner, "Eos, + qui ita instituti sunt, ut tales sint." + +He had indeed a different way of dealing with different kinds of +people. (4) Those who thought they had good natural ability and despised +learning he instructed that the most highly-gifted nature stands most +in need of training and education; (5) and he would point out how in the +case of horses it is just the spirited and fiery thoroughbred which, if +properly broken in as a colt, will develop into a serviceable and superb +animal, but if left unbroken will turn out utterly intractable and good +for nothing. Or take the case of dogs: a puppy exhibiting that zest for +toil and eagerness to attack wild creatures which are the marks of high +breeding, (6) will, if well brought up, prove excellent for the chase or +for any other useful purpose; but neglect his education and he will turn +out a stupid, crazy brute, incapable of obeying the simplest command. It +is just the same with human beings; here also the youth of best natural +endowments--that is to say, possessing the most robust qualities of +spirit and a fixed determination to carry out whatever he has laid his +hand to--will, if trained and taught what it is right to do, prove a +superlatively good and useful man. He achieves, in fact, what is best +upon the grandest scale. But leave him in boorish ignorance untrained, +and he will prove not only very bad but very mischievous, (7) and for +this reason, that lacking the knowledge to discern what is right to do, +he will frequently lay his hand to villainous practices; whilst the very +magnificence and vehemence of his character render it impossible either +to rein him in or to turn him aside from his evil courses. Hence in his +case also his achievements are on the grandest scale but of the worst. +(8) + + (4) Or, "His method of attack was not indeed uniformly the same. It + varied with the individual." + + (5) Or, "If any one was disposed to look down upon learning and study + in reliance upon his own natural ability, he tried to lesson him + that it is just the highly-gifted nature which stands," etc. See + Newman, op. cit. i. 397. + + (6) Cf. Aristot. "H. A." ix. 1; and "Hunting," iii. 11. + + (7) Or, "and the same man may easily become a master villain of the + most dangerous sort." + + (8) Kuhner ad loc. after Fr. Hermann cf. Plato. "Crito," 44 E; "Hipp. + min." 375 E; "Rep." vi. 491 E; "Gorg." 526 A; "Polit." 303 A. + +Or to take the type of person so eaten up with the pride of riches that +he conceives himself dispensed from any further need of education--since +it is "money makes the man," and his wealth will amply suffice him to +carry out his desires and to win honours from admiring humanity. (9) +Socrates would bring such people to their senses by pointing out the +folly of supposing that without instruction it was possible to draw the +line of demarcation (10) between what is gainful and what is hurtful +in conduct; and the further folly of supposing that, apart from such +discrimination, a man could help himself by means of wealth alone to +whatever he liked or find the path of expediency plain before him; and +was it not the veriest simplicity to suppose that, without the power of +labouring profitably, a man can either be doing well or be in any sort +of way sufficiently equipped for the battle of life? and again, the +veriest simplicity to suppose that by mere wealth without true knowledge +it was possible either to purchase a reputation for some excellence, or +without such reputation to gain distinction and celebrity? + + (9) Or, "and to be honoured by mankind." + + (10) Or, "that without learning the distinction it was possible to + distinguish between," etc. + + +II + +Or to come to a third kind--the class of people who are persuaded that +they have received the best education, and are proud of their wisdom: +his manner of dealing with these I will now describe. + +Euthydemus (1) "the beautiful" had (Socrates was given to understand) +collected a large library, consisting of the most celebrated poets and +philosophers, (2) by help of which he already believed himself to be +more than a match for his fellows in wisdom, and indeed might presently +expect to out-top them all in capacity of speech and action. (3) At +first, as Socrates noted, the young man by reason of his youth had not +as yet set foot in the agora, (4) but if he had anything to transact, +his habit was to seat himself in a saddler's shop hard by. Accordingly +to this same saddler's shop Socrates betook himself with some of those +who were with him. And first the question was started by some one: "Was +it through consorting with the wise, (5) or by his own unaided talent, +that Themistocles came so to surpass his fellow-citizens that when the +services of a capable man were needed the eyes of the whole community +instinctively turned to him?" Socrates, with a view to stirring (6) +Euthydemus, answered: There was certainly an ingenuous simplicity in the +belief that superiority in arts of comparatively little worth could only +be attained by aid of qualified teachers, but that the leadership of the +state, the most important concern of all, was destined to drop into the +lap of anybody, no matter whom, like an accidental windfall. (7) + + (1) Euthydemus, the son of Diocles perhaps. See Plat. "Symp." 222 B, + and Jowet ad loc.; Cobet, "Prosop. Xen." s.n.; K. Joel, op. cit. + p. 372 foll. For {ton kalon} cf. "Phaedr." 278 E, "Isocrates the + fair." For the whole chapter cf. Plat. "Alc." i.; "Lys." 210 E. + See above, "Mem." I. ii. 29; Grote, "Plato," i. ch. x. passim. + + (2) Lit. "sophists." See Grote, "H. G." viii. p. 480, note. For + private libraries see Becker, "Char." p. 272 foll. (Eng. tr.) + + (3) See "Hipparch," i. 24; "Cyrop." V. v. 46. + + (4) See above, III. vi. 1; Schneid. cf. Isocr. "Areop." 149 C. + + (5) Cf. Soph. fr. 12, {sophoi turannoi ton sophon xunousia}. + + (6) L. and S. cf. Plat. "Lys." 223 A; "Rep." 329 B: "Wishing to draw + him out." + + (7) Cf. Plat. "Alc." i. 118 C: "And Pericles is said not to have got + his wisdom by the light of nature, but to have associated with + several of the philosophers" (Jowett). + +On a subsequent occasion, Euthydemus being present, though, as was plain +to see, somewhat disposed to withdraw from the friendly concourse, (8) +as if he would choose anything rather than appear to admire Socrates on +the score of wisdom, the latter made the following remarks. + + (8) {sunedrias}, "the council." + +Soc. It is clear from his customary pursuits, is it not, sirs, that when +our friend Euthydemus here is of full age, and the state propounds some +question for solution, he will not abstain from offering the benefit +of his advice? One can imagine the pretty exordium to his parliamentary +speeches which, in his anxiety not to be thought to have learnt anything +from anybody, he has ready for the occasion. (9) Clearly at the outset +he will deliver himself thus: "Men of Athens, I have never at any time +learnt anything from anybody; nor, if I have ever heard of any one as +being an able statesman, well versed in speech and capable of action, +have I sought to come across him individually. I have not so much as +been at pains to provide myself with a teacher from amongst those who +have knowledge; (10) on the contrary, I have persistently avoided, I +will not say learning from others, but the very faintest suspicion of +so doing. However, anything that occurs to me by the light of nature I +shall be glad to place at your disposal."... How appropriate (11) would +such a preface sound on the lips of any one seeking, say, the office of +state physician, (12) would it not? How advantageously he might begin +an address on this wise: "Men of Athens, I have never learnt the art of +healing by help of anybody, nor have I sought to provide myself with any +teacher among medical men. Indeed, to put it briefly, I have been ever +on my guard not only against learning anything from the profession, but +against the very notion of having studied medicine at all. If, however, +you will be so good as to confer on me this post, I promise I will do +my best to acquire skill by experimenting on your persons." Every one +present laughed at the exordium (and there the matter dropped). + + (9) Or, "the pretty exordium... now in course of composition. He + must at all hazards avoid the suspicion of having picked up any + crumb of learning from anybody; how can he help therefore + beginning his speech thus?" + + (10) Or, "scientific experts." + + (11) Al. "Just as if one seeking the office of state physician were to + begin with a like exordium." {armoseie} = "it would be consistent + (with what has gone before)." + + (12) Schneider cf. Plat. "Laws," iv. 720 A; "Gorg." 456 A; and for + "the parish doctor," "Polit." 259 A; Arist. "Acharn." 1030. + +Presently, when it became apparent that Euthydemus had got so far that +he was disposed to pay attention to what was said, though he was still +at pains not to utter a sound himself, as if he hoped by silence to +attach to himself some reputation for sagacity, Socrates, wishing to +cure him of that defect, proceeded. + +Soc. Is it not surprising that people anxious to learn to play the +harp or the flute, or to ride, or to become proficient in any like +accomplishment, are not content to work unremittingly in private by +themselves at whatever it is in which they desire to excel, but they +must sit at the feet of the best-esteemed teachers, doing all things +and enduring all things for the sake of following the judgment of those +teachers in everything, as though they themselves could not otherwise +become famous; whereas, among those who aspire to become eminent +politically as orators and statesmen, (13) there are some who cannot +see why they should not be able to do all that politics demand, at a +moment's notice, by inspiration as it were, without any preliminary +pains or preparations whatever? And yet it would appear that the latter +concerns must be more difficult of achievement than the former, in +proportion as there are more competitors in the field but fewer who +reach the goal of their ambition, which is as much as to say that a more +sustained effort of attention is needed on the part of those who embark +upon the sea of politics than is elsewhere called for. + + (13) Or, more lit. "powerful in speech and action within the sphere of + politics." + +Such were the topics on which Socrates was wont in the early days of +their association to dilate in the hearing of Euthydemus; but when the +philosopher perceived that the youth not only could tolerate the turns +of the discussion more readily but was now become a somewhat eager +listener, he went to the saddler's shop alone, (14) and when Euthydemus +was seated by his side the following conversation took place. + + (14) The question arises: how far is the conversation historical or + imaginary? + +Soc. Pray tell me, Euthydemus, is it really true what people tell me, +that you have made a large collection of the writings of "the wise," as +they are called? (15) + + (15) Or, "have collected several works of our classical authors and + philosophers." + +Euthydemus answered: Quite true, Socrates, and I mean to go on +collecting until I possess all the books I can possibly lay hold of. + +Soc. By Hera! I admire you for wishing to possess treasures of wisdom +rather than of gold and silver, which shows that you do not believe gold +and silver to be the means of making men better, but that the thoughts +(16) of the wise alone enrich with virtue their possessions. + + (16) Lit. "gnomes," maxims, sententiae. Cf. Aristot. "Rhet." ii. 21. + +And Euthydemus was glad when he heard that saying, for, thought he +to himself, "In the eyes of Socrates I am on the high road to the +acquisition of wisdom." But the latter, perceiving him to be pleased +with the praise, continued. + +Soc. And what is it in which you desire to excel, Euthydemus, that you +collect books? + +And when Euthydemus was silent, considering what answer he should +make, Socrates added: Possibly you want to be a great doctor? Why, +the prescriptions (17) of the Pharmacopoeia would form a pretty large +library by themselves. + + (17) {suggrammata}, "medical treatises." See Aristot. "Eth." x. 9, 21. + +No, indeed, not I! (answered Euthydemus). + +Soc. Then do you wish to be an architect? That too implies a man of +well-stored wit and judgment. (18) + + (18) Or, "To be that implies a considerable store of well-packed + wisdom." + +I have no such ambition (he replied). + +Soc. Well, do you wish to be a mathematician, like Theodorus? (19) + + (19) Of Cyrene (cf. Plat. "Theaet.") taught Plato. Diog. Laert. ii. 8, + 19. + +Euth. No, nor yet a mathematician. + +Soc. Then do you wish to be an astronomer? (20) or (as the youth +signified dissent) possibly a rhapsodist? (21) (he asked), for I am told +you have the entire works of Homer in your possession. (22) + + (20) Cf. below, IV. vii. 4. + + (21) See "Symp." iii. 6; Plat. "Ion." + + (22) See Jowett, "Plato," i. 229; Grote, "Plato," i. 455. + +Nay, God forbid! not I! (ejaculated the youth). Rhapsodists have a very +exact acquaintance with epic poetry, I know, of course; but they are +empty-pated creatures enough themselves. (23) + + (23) Or, "are simply perfect in the art of reciting epic poetry, but + are apt to be the veriest simpletons themselves." + +At last Socrates said: Can it be, Euthydemus, that you are an aspirant +to that excellence through which men become statesmen and administrators +fit to rule and apt to benefit (24) the rest of the world and +themselves? + + (24) Or, "statesmen, and economists, and rules, and benefactors of + the rest of the world and themselves." + +Yes (replied he), that is the excellence I desire--beyond measure. + +Upon my word (said Socrates), then you have indeed selected as the +object of your ambition the noblest of virtues and the greatest of the +arts, for this is the property of kings, and is entitled "royal"; but +(he continued) have you considered whether it is possible to excel in +these matters without being just and upright? (25) + + (25) Just, {dikaios} = upright, righteous. Justice, {dikaiosune} = + social uprightness = righteousness, N.T. To quote a friend: "The + Greek {dikaios} combines the active dealing out of justice with + the self-reflective idea of preserving justice in our conduct, + which is what we mean by 'upright.'" + +Euth. Certainly I have, and I say that without justice and uprightness +it is impossible to be a good citizen. + +No doubt (replied Socrates) you have accomplished that initial step? + +Euth. Well, Socrates, I think I could hold my own against all comers as +an upright man. + +And have upright men (continued Socrates) their distinctive and +appropriate works like those of carpenters or shoe-makers? + +Euth. To be sure they have. + +Soc. And just as the carpenter is able to exhibit his works and +products, the righteous man should be able to expound and set forth his, +should he not? + +I see (replied Euthydemus) you are afraid I cannot expound the works +of righteousness! Why, bless me! of course I can, and the works of +unrighteousness into the bargain, since there are not a few of that sort +within reach of eye and ear every day. + +Shall we then (proceeded Socrates) write the letter R on this side, (26) +and on that side the letter W; and then anything that appears to us +to be the product of righteousness we will place to the R account, and +anything which appears to be the product of wrong-doing and iniquity to +the account of W? + + (26) The letter R (to stand for Right, Righteous, Upright, Just). The + letter W (to stand for Wrong, Unrighteous, Unjust). + +By all means do so (he answered), if you think that it assists matters. + +Accordingly Socrates drew the letters, as he had suggested, and +continued. + +Soc. Lying exists among men, does it not? + +Euth. Certainly. + +To which side of the account then shall we place it? (he asked). + +Euth. Clearly on the side of wrong and injustice. + +Soc. Deceit too is not uncommon? + +Euth. By no means. + +Soc. To which side shall we place deceit? + +Euth. Deceit clearly on the side of wrong. + +Soc. Well, and chicanery (27) or mischief of any sort? + + (27) Reading {to kakourgein} (= furari, Sturz); al. {kleptein}, Stob. + +Euth. That too. + +Soc. And the enslavement of free-born men? (28) + + (28) Or, "the kidnapping of men into slavery." {to andrapodizesthai} = + the reduction of a free-born man to a state of slavery. Slavery + itself ({douleia}) being regarded as the normal condition of a + certain portion of the human race and not in itself immoral. + +Euth. That too. + +Soc. And we cannot allow any of these to lie on the R side of the +account, to the side of right and justice, can we, Euthydemus? + +It would be monstrous (he replied). + +Soc. Very good. But supposing a man to be elected general, and he +succeeds in enslaving an unjust, wicked, and hostile state, are we to +say that he is doing wrong? + +Euth. By no means. + +Soc. Shall we not admit that he is doing what is right? + +Euth. Certainly. + +Soc. Again, suppose he deceives the foe while at war with them? + +Euth. That would be all fair and right also. + +Soc. Or steals and pillages their property? would he not be doing what +is right? + +Euth. Certainly; when you began I thought you were limiting the question +to the case of friends. + +Soc. So then everything which we set down on the side of Wrong will now +have to be placed to the credit of Right? + +Euth. Apparently. + +Soc. Very well then, let us so place them; and please, let us make a +new definition--that while it is right to do such things to a foe, it is +wrong to do them to a friend, but in dealing with the latter it behoves +us to be as straightforward as possible. (29) + + (29) Or, "an absolutely straightforward course is necessary." + +I quite assent (replied Euthydemus). + +So far so good (remarked Socrates); but if a general, seeing his troops +demoralised, were to invent a tale to the effect that reinforcements +were coming, and by means of this false statement should revive the +courage of his men, to which of the two accounts shall we place that act +of fraud? (30) + + (30) Cf. "Hell." IV. iii. 10; "Cyrop." I. vi. 31. + +On the side of right, to my notion (he replied). + +Soc. Or again, if a man chanced to have a son ill and in need of +medicine, which the child refused to take, and supposing the father by +an act of deceit to administer it under the guise of something nice to +eat, and by service of that lie to restore the boy to health, to which +account shall we set down this fraud? + +Euth. In my judgment it too should be placed to the same account. + +Soc. Well, supposing you have a friend in deplorably low spirits, and +you are afraid he will make away with himself--accordingly you rob him +of his knife or other such instrument: to which side ought we to set the +theft? + +Euth. That too must surely be placed to the score of right behaviour. + +Soc. I understand you to say that a straightforward course is not in +every case to be pursued even in dealing with friends? + +Heaven forbid! (the youth exclaimed). If you will allow me, I rescind my +former statement. (31) + + (31) See above, I. ii. 44 ({anatithemai}). + +Soc. Allow you! Of course you may--anything rather than make a false +entry on our lists.... But there is just another point we ought not to +leave uninvestigated. Let us take the case of deceiving a friend to +his detriment: which is the more wrongful--to do so voluntarily or +unintentionally? + +Euth. Really, Socrates, I have ceased to believe in my own answers, for +all my former admissions and conceptions seem to me other than I +first supposed them. (32) Still, if I may hazard one more opinion, the +intentional deceiver, I should say, is worse than the involuntary. + + (32) Or, "all my original positions seem to me now other than I first + conceived them"; or, "everything I first asserted seems now to be + twisted topsy-turvy." + +Soc. And is it your opinion that there is a lore and science of Right +and Justice just as there is of letters and grammar? (33) + + (33) {mathesis kai episteme tou dikaiou}--a doctrine and a knowledge + of the Just. + +Euth. That is my opinion. + +Soc. And which should you say was more a man of letters (34)--he who +intentionally misspells or misreads, or he who does so unconsciously? + + (34) Or, "more grammatical"; "the better grammarian." + +Euth. He who does so intentionally, I should say, because he can spell +or read correctly whenever he chooses. + +Soc. Then the voluntary misspeller may be a lettered person, but the +involuntary offender is an illiterate? (35) + + (35) Or, "In fact, he who sins against the lore of grammer + intentionally may be a good grammarian and a man of letters, but + he who does so involuntarily is illiterate and a bad grammarian?" + +Euth. True, he must be. I do not see how to escape from that conclusion. + +Soc. And which of the two knows what is right--he who intentionally lies +and deceives, or he who lies and deceives unconsciously? (36) + + (36) Or, Soc. And does he who lies and deceives with intent know what + is right rather than he who does either or both unconsciously? + + Euth. Clearly he does. + +Euth. The intentional and conscious liar clearly. + +Soc. Well then, your statement is this: on the one hand, the man who +has the knowledge of letters is more lettered than he who has no such +knowledge? (37) + + (37) Or, Soc. It is a fair inference, is it not, that he who has the + {episteme} of grammar is more grammatical than he who has no such + {episteme}? + + Euth. Yes. + + Soc. And he who has the {episteme} of things rightful is more + righteous than he who lacks the {episteme}? See Plat. "Hipp. + min."; Arist. "Eth. Eud." VI. v. 7. + +Euth. Yes. + +Soc. And, on the other, he who has the knowledge of what is right is +more righteous than he who lacks that knowledge? + +Euth. I suppose it is, but for the life of me I cannot make head or tail +of my own admission. (38) + + (38) Lit. "Apparently; but I appear to myself to be saying this also, + heaven knows how." See Jowett, "Plato," ii. p. 416 (ed. 2). + +Soc. Well (look at it like this). Suppose a man to be anxious to speak +the truth, but he is never able to hold the same language about a thing +for two minutes together. First he says: "The road is towards the east," +and then he says, "No, it's towards the west"; or, running up a column +of figures, now he makes the product this, and again he makes it that, +now more, now less--what do you think of such a man? + +Euth. Heaven help us! clearly he does not know what he thought he knew. + +Soc. And you know the appellation given to certain people--"slavish," +(39) or, "little better than a slave?" + + (39) {andropododeis}, which has the connotation of mental dulness, and + a low order of intellect, cf. "boorish," "rustic," "loutish," + ("pariah," conceivably). "Slavish," "servile," with us connote + moral rather than intellectual deficiency, I suppose. Hence it is + impossible to preserve the humour of the Socratic argument. See + Newman, op. cit. i. 107. + +Euth. I do. + +Soc. Is it a term suggestive of the wisdom or the ignorance of those to +whom it is applied? + +Euth. Clearly of their ignorance. + +Soc. Ignorance, for instance, of smithying? + +Euth. No, certainly not. + +Soc. Then possibly ignorance of carpentering? + +Euth. No, nor yet ignorance of carpentering. + +Soc. Well, ignorance of shoemaking? + +Euth. No, nor ignorance of any of these: rather the reverse, for the +majority of those who do know just these matters are "little better than +slaves." + +Soc. You mean it is a title particularly to those who are ignorant of +the beautiful, the good, the just? (40) + + (40) Cf. Goethe's "Im Ganzen Guten Schonen resolut zu leben." + +It is, in my opinion (he replied). + +Soc. Then we must in every way strain every nerve to avoid the +imputation of being slaves? + +Euth. Nay, Socrates, by all that is holy, I did flatter myself that +at any rate I was a student of philosophy, and on the right road to +be taught everything essential to one who would fain make beauty and +goodness his pursuit. (41) So that now you may well imagine my despair +when, for all my pains expended, I cannot even answer the questions put +to me about what most of all a man should know; and there is no path of +progress open to me, no avenue of improvement left. + + (41) {tes kalokagathias}, the virtue of the {kalos te kagathos}-- + nobility of soul. Cf. above, I. vi. 14. + +Thereupon Socrates: Tell me, Euthydemus, have you ever been to Delphi? + +Yes, certainly; twice (said he). + +Soc. And did you notice an inscription somewhere on the temple: +{GNOMI SEAUTON}--KNOW THYSELF? + +Euth. I did. + +Soc. Did you, possibly, pay no regard to the inscription? or did you +give it heed and try to discover who and what you were? + +I can safely say I did not (he answered). That much I made quite sure +I knew, at any rate; since if I did not know even myself, what in the +world did I know? + +Soc. Can a man be said, do you think, to know himself who knows his own +name and nothing more? or must he not rather set to work precisely like +the would-be purchaser of a horse, who certainly does not think that he +has got the knowledge he requires until he has discovered whether the +beast is tractable or stubborn, strong or weak, quick or slow, and +how it stands with the other points, serviceable or the reverse, in +reference to the use and purpose of a horse? So, I say, must a man +in like manner interrogate his own nature in reference to a man's +requirements, and learn to know his own capacities, must he not? + +Euth. Yes, so it strikes me: he who knows not his own ability knows not +himself. + +Soc. And this too is plain, is it not: that through self-knowledge men +meet with countless blessings, and through ignorance of themselves +with many evils? Because, the man who knows himself knows what is +advantageous to himself; he discerns the limits of his powers, and by +doing what he knows, he provides himself with what he needs and so does +well; or, conversely, by holding aloof from what he knows not, he avoids +mistakes and thereby mishaps. And having now a test to gauge other human +beings he uses their need as a stepping-stone to provide himself with +good and to avoid evil. Whereas he who does not know himself, but is +mistaken as to his own capacity, is in like predicament to the rest of +mankind and all human matters else; he neither knows what he wants, +nor what he is doing, nor the people whom he deals with; and being all +abroad in these respects, he misses what is good and becomes involved in +what is ill. + +Again, he that knows what he is doing through the success of his +performance attains to fame and honour; his peers and co-mates are glad +to make use of him, whilst his less successful neighbours, failing +in their affairs, are anxious to secure his advice, his guidance, his +protection; (42) they place their hopes of happiness in him, and for all +these causes (43) single him out as the chief object of their affection. +He, on the contrary, who knows not what he does, who chooses amiss and +fails in what he puts his hands to, not only incurs loss and suffers +chastisement through his blunders, but step by step loses reputation +and becomes a laughing-stock, and in the end is doomed to a life of +dishonour and contempt. + + (42) Cf. Dante, "Tu duca, tu maestro, tu signore." + + (43) Reading, {dia panta tauta}, or if {dia tauta}, translate "and + therefore." + +What is true of individuals is true also of communities. (44) That state +which in ignorance of its power goes to war with a stronger than itself +ends by being uprooted or else reduced to slavery. + + (44) Or, more lit. "A law which applies, you will observe, to bodies + politic." + +Thereupon Euthydemus: Be assured I fully concur in your opinion; the +precept KNOW THYSELF cannot be too highly valued; but what is the +application? What the starting-point of self-examination? I look to you +for an explanation, if you would kindly give one. (45) + + (45) Or, "at what point to commence the process of self-inspection?-- + there is the mystery. I look to you, if you are willing, to + interpret it." + +Well (replied Socrates), I presume you know quite well the distinction +between good and bad things: your knowledge may be relied upon so far? + +Why, yes, to be sure (replied the youth); for without that much +discernment I should indeed be worse than any slave. (46) + + (46) Lit. "if I did not know even that." + +Come then (said he), do you give me an explanation of the things so +termed. + +That is fortunately not hard (replied the youth). First of all, health +in itself I hold to be a good, and disease in itself an evil; and in the +next place the sources of either of those aforenamed, meats and drinks, +and habits of life, (47) I regard as good or evil according as they +contribute either to health or to disease. + + (47) Or, "pursuits and occupations"; "manners and customs." + +Soc. Then health and disease themselves when they prove to be sources of +any good are good, but when of any evil, evil? + +And when (asked he), can health be a source of evil, or disease a source +of good? + +Why, bless me! often enough (replied Socrates). In the event, for +instance, of some ill-starred expedition or of some disastrous voyage +or other incident of the sort, of which veritably there are enough to +spare--when those who owing to their health and strength take a part +in the affair are lost; whilst those who were left behind--as hors de +combat, on account of ill-health of other feebleness--are saved. + +Euth. Yes, you are right; but you will admit that there are advantages +to be got from strength and lost through weakness. + +Soc. Even so; but ought we to regard those things which at one moment +benefit and at another moment injure us in any strict sense good rather +than evil? + +Euth. No, certainly not, according to that line of argument. But wisdom, +(48) Socrates, you must on your side admit, is irrefragably a good; +since there is nothing which or in which a wise man would not do better +than a fool. + + (48) See above, III. ix. 5. Here {sophia} is not = {sophrosune}. + +Soc. What say you? Have you never heard of Daedalus, (49) how he was +seized by Minos on account of his wisdom, and forced to be his slave, +and robbed of fatherland and freedom at one swoop? and how, while +endeavouring to make his escape with his son, he caused the boy's +death without effecting his own salvation, but was carried off among +barbarians and again enslaved? + + (49) See Ovid. "Met." viii. 159 foll., 261 foll.; Hygin. "Fab." 39, + 40; Diod. Sic. iv. 79; Paus. vii. 4. 6. + +Yes, I know the old story (he answered). (50) + + (50) Or, "Ah yes, of course; the tale is current." + +Soc. Or have you not heard of the "woes of Palamedes," (51) that +commonest theme of song, how for his wisdom's sake Odysseus envied him +and slew him? + + (51) See Virg. "Aen." ii. 90; Hygin. 105; Philostr. "Her." x. + +Euth. That tale also is current. + +Soc. And how many others, pray, do you suppose have been seized on +account of their wisdom, and despatched to the great king and at his +court enslaved? (52) + + (52) Cf. Herod. iii. 129. + +Well, prosperity, well-being (53) (he exclaimed), must surely be a +blessing, and that the most indisputable, Socrates? + + (53) {to eudaimonein}, "happiness." Cf. Herod. i. 86. + +It might be so (replied the philosopher) if it chanced not to be in +itself a compound of other questionable blessings. + +Euth. And which among the components of happiness and well-being can +possibly be questionable? + +None (he retorted), unless of course we are to include among these +components beauty, or strength, or wealth, or reputation, or anything +else of that kind? + +Euth. By heaven! of course we are to include these, for what would +happiness be without these? + +Soc. By heaven! yes; only then we shall be including the commonest +sources of mischief which befall mankind. How many are ruined by their +fair faces at the hand of admirers driven to distraction (54) by the +sight of beauty in its bloom! how many, tempted by their strength to +essay deeds beyond their power, are involved in no small evils! how +many, rendered effeminate by reason of their wealth, have been plotted +against and destroyed! (55) how many through fame and political power +have suffered a world of woe! + + (54) Cf. Plat. "Rep." vii. 517 D; "Phaedr." 249 D. + + (55) e.g. Alcibiades. + +Well (the youth replied) if I am not even right in praising happiness, +I must confess I know not for what one ought to supplicate the gods in +prayer. (56) + + (56) See above for Socrates' own form of supplication. + +Nay, these are matters (proceeded Socrates) which perhaps, through +excessive confidence in your knowledge of them, you have failed to +examine into; but since the state, which you are preparing yourself to +direct, is democratically constituted, (57) of course you know what a +democracy is. + + (57) Or, "popularly governed." + +Euth. I presume I do, decidedly. + +Soc. Well, now, is it possible to know what a popular state is without +knowing who the people are? + +Euth. Certainly not. + +Soc. And whom do you consider to be the people? + +Euth. The poor citizens, I should say. + +Soc. Then you know who the poor are, of course? + +Euth. Of course I do. + +Soc. I presume you also know who the rich are? + +Euth. As certainly as I know who are the poor. + +Soc. Whom do you understand by poor and rich? + +Euth. By poor I mean those who have not enough to pay for their +necessaries, (58) and by rich those who have more means than sufficient +for all their needs. + + (58) Al. "who cannot contribute their necessary quota to the taxes + (according to the census)." + +Soc. Have you noticed that some who possess a mere pittance not only +find this sufficient, but actually succeed in getting a surplus out of +it; while others do not find a large fortune large enough? + +I have, most certainly; and I thank you for the reminder (replied +Euthydemus). One has heard of crowned heads and despotic rulers being +driven by want to commit misdeeds like the veriest paupers. + +Then, if that is how matters stand (continued Socrates), we must class +these same crowned heads with the commonalty; and some possessors of +scant fortunes, provided they are good economists, with the wealthy? + +Then Euthydemus: It is the poverty of my own wit which forces me to this +admission. I bethink me it is high time to keep silence altogether; a +little more, and I shall be proved to know absolutely nothing. And so he +went away crestfallen, in an agony of self-contempt, persuaded that he +was verily and indeed no better than a slave. + +Amongst those who were reduced to a like condition by Socrates, many +refused to come near him again, whom he for his part looked upon as +dolts and dullards. (59) But Euthydemus had the wit to understand that, +in order to become worthy of account, his best plan was to associate +as much as possible with Socrates; and from that moment, save for some +necessity, he never left him--in some points even imitating him in his +habits and pursuits. Socrates, on his side, seeing that this was the +young man's disposition, disturbed him as little as possible, but in the +simplest and plainest manner initiated him into everything which he held +to be needful to know or important to practise. + + (59) Or, "as people of dull intelligence and sluggish temperament." + Cf. Plat. "Gorg." 488 A. + + +III + +It may be inferred that Socrates was in no hurry for those who were +with him to discover capacities for speech and action or as +inventive geniuses, (1) without at any rate a well-laid foundation of +self-control. (2) For those who possessed such abilities without these +same saving virtues would, he believed, only become worse men with +greater power for mischief. His first object was to instil into those +who were with him a wise spirit in their relation to the gods. (3) That +such was the tenor of his conversation in dealing with men may be +seen from the narratives of others who were present on some particular +occasion. (4) I confine myself to a particular discussion with +Euthydemus at which I was present. + + (1) Or, "as speakers" (see ch. vi. below), "and men of action" (see + ch. v. below), "or as masters of invention" (see ch. vii. below). + + (2) Or, "but as prior to those excellences must be engrafted in them + {sophrosune} (the virtues of temperance and sanity of soul)." + + (3) Lit. "His first object and endeavour was to make those who were + with him {sophronas} (sound of soul) as regards the gods." + + (4) Reading after Herbst, Cobet, etc., {diegountai}, or if vulg. + {diegounto}, translate, "from the current accounts penned during + his lifetime by the other witnesses." For {alloi} see K. Joel, op. + cit. pp. 15, 23; above, "Mem." I. iv. 1. + +Socrates said: (5) Tell me, Euthydemus, has it ever struck you to +observe what tender pains the gods have taken to furnish man with all +his needs? + + (5) For the subject matter of this "teleological" chapter, see above, + I. iv.; K. Joel, op. cit. Appendix, p. 547 foll. in ref. to + Dummler's views. + +Euth. No indeed, I cannot say that it has ever struck me. + +Well (Socrates continued), you do not need to be reminded that, in the +first place, we need light, and with light the gods supply us. + +Euth. Most true, and if we had not got it we should, as far as our own +eyes could help us, be like men born blind. + +Soc. And then, again, seeing that we stand in need of rest and +relaxation, they bestow upon us "the blessed balm of silent night." (6) + + (6) {kalliston anapauterion}. The diction throughout is "poetical." + +Yes (he answered), we are much beholden for that boon. + +Soc. Then, forasmuch as the sun in his splendour makes manifest to us +the hours of the day and bathes all things in brightness, but anon night +in her darkness obliterates distinctions, have they not displayed aloft +the starry orbs, which inform us of the watches of the night, whereby we +can accomplish many of our needs? (7) + + (7) e.g. for temple orientation see Dr. Penrose quoted by Norman + Lockyer, "Nature," August 31. 1893. + +It is so (he answered). + +Soc. And let us not forget that the moon herself not only makes clear to +us the quarters of the night, but of the month also? + +Certainly (he answered). + +Soc. And what of this: that whereas we need nutriment, this too the +heavenly powers yield us? Out of earth's bosom they cause good to spring +up (8) for our benefit; and for our benefit provide appropriate seasons +to furnish us in turn not only with the many and diverse objects of +need, but with the sources also of our joy and gladness? (9) + + (8) Cf. Plat. "Laws," 747 D. + + (9) Or, "pleasure." + +Yes (he answered eagerly), these things bear token truly to a love for +man. (10) + + (10) Cf. Plat. "Laws," 713 D; "Symp." 189 D. "These things are signs + of a beneficient regard for man." + +Soc. Well, and what of another priceless gift, that of water, which +conspires with earth and the seasons to give both birth and increase to +all things useful to us; nay, which helps to nurture our very selves, +and commingling with all that feeds us, renders it more digestible, more +wholesome, and more pleasant to the taste; and mark you in proportion to +the abundance of our need the superabundance of its supply. What say you +concerning such a boon? + +Euth. In this again I see a sign of providential care. + +Soc. And then the fact that the same heavenly power has provided us with +fire (11)--our assistant against cold, our auxiliary in darkness, our +fellow-workman in every art and every instrument which for the sake of +its utility mortal man may invent or furnish himself withal. What of +this, since, to put it compendiously, there is nothing serviceable to +the life of man worth speaking of but owes its fabrication to fire? (12) + + (11) Lit. "and then the fact that they made provision for us of even + fire"; the credit of this boon, according to Hesiod, being due to + Prometheus. + + (12) Or, "no life-aiding appliance worthy of the name." + +Euth. Yes, a transcendent instance of benevolent design. (13) + + (13) Or, "Yes, that may be called an extreme instance of the divine + 'philanthropy.'" Cf. Cic. "de N. D." ii. 62. + +Soc. Again, consider the motions of the Sun, (14) how when he has +turned him about in winter (15) he again draws nigh to us, ripening some +fruits, and causing others whose time is past to dry up; how when he has +fulfilled his work he comes no closer, but turns away as if in fear to +scorch us to our hurt unduly; and again, when he has reached a point +where if he should prolong his retreat we should plainly be frozen to +death with cold, note how he turns him about and resumes his approach, +traversing that region of the heavens where he may shed his genial +influence best upon us. + + (14) A single MS. inserts a passage {to de kai era... + 'Anekphraston}. + + (15) i.e. as we say, "after the winter solstice." + +Yes, upon my word (he answered), these occurrences bear the impress of +being so ordered for the sake of man. + +Soc. And then, again, it being manifest that we could not endure either +scorching heat or freezing cold if they came suddenly upon us, note how +gradually the sun approaches, and how gradually recedes, so that we fail +to notice how we come at last to either extreme. (16) + + (16) Or, "note the gradual approach and gradual recession of the sun- + god, so gradual that we reach either extreme in a manner + imperceptibly, and before we are aware of its severity." + +For my part (he replied), the question forces itself upon my mind, +whether the gods have any other occupation save only to minister to man; +and I am only hindered from saying so, because the rest of animals would +seem to share these benefits along with man. + +Soc. Why, to be sure; and is it not plain that these animals themselves +are born and bred for the sake of man? At any rate, no living creature +save man derives so many of his enjoyments from sheep and goats, horses +and cattle and asses, and other animals. He is more dependent, I should +suppose, on these than even on plants and vegetables. At any rate, +equally with these latter they serve him as means of subsistence or +articles of commerce; indeed, a large portion of the human family do not +use the products of the soil as food at all, but live on the milk and +cheese and flesh of their flocks and herds, whilst all men everywhere +tame and domesticate the more useful kinds of animals, and turn them to +account as fellow-workers in war and for other purposes. + +Yes, I cannot but agree with what you say (he answered), when I see that +animals so much stronger than man become so subservient to his hand that +he can use them as he lists. + +Soc. And as we reflect on the infinite beauty and utility and the +variety of nature, what are we to say of the fact that man has been +endowed with sensibilities which correspond with this diversity, whereby +we take our fill of every blessing; (17) or, again, this implanted +faculty of reasoning, which enables us to draw inferences concerning the +things which we perceive, and by aid of memory to understand how +each set of things may be turned to our good, and to devise countless +contrivances with a view to enjoying the good and repelling the evil; or +lastly, when we consider the faculty bestowed upon us of interpretative +speech, by which we are enabled to instruct one another, and to +participate in all the blessings fore-named: to form societies, to +establish laws, and to enter upon a civilised existence (18)--what are +we to think? + + (17) Or, "Again, when we consider how many beautiful objects there are + serviceable to man, and yet how unlike they are to one another, + the fact that man has been endowed with senses adapted to each + class of things, and so has access to a world of happiness." + + (18) Cf. Aristot. "Pol." III. ix. 5. + +Euth. Yes, Socrates, decidedly it would appear that the gods do manifest +a great regard, nay, a tender care, towards mankind. + +Soc. Well, and what do you make of the fact that where we are powerless +to take advantageous forethought for our future, at this stage they +themselves lend us their co-operation, imparting to the inquirer through +divination knowledge of events about to happen, and instructing him by +what means they may best be turned to good account? + +Euth. Ay, and you, Socrates, they would seem to treat in a more friendly +manner still than the rest of men, if, without waiting even to be +inquired of by you, they show you by signs beforehand what you must, and +what you must not do. (19) + + (19) See above, I. iv. 14, for a parallel to the train of thought on + the part of Aristodemus "the little," and of Euthydemus; and for + Socrates' {daimonion}, see above; Grote, "Plato," i. 400. + +Soc. Yes, and you will discover for yourself the truth of what I say, if, +without waiting to behold the outward and visible forms (20) of the gods +themselves, you will be content to behold their works; and with these +before you, to worship and honour the Divine authors of them. (21) +I would have you reflect that the very gods themselves suggest this +teaching. (22) Not one of these but gives us freely of his blessings; +yet they do not step from behind their veil in order to grant one +single boon. (23) And pre-eminently He who orders and holds together +the universe, (24) in which are all things beautiful and good; (25) who +fashions and refashions it to never-ending use unworn, keeping it free +from sickness or decay, (26) so that swifter than thought it ministers +to his will unerringly--this God is seen to perform the mightiest +operations, but in the actual administration of the same abides himself +invisible to mortal ken. Reflect further, this Sun above our heads, so +visible to all--as we suppose--will not suffer man to regard him too +narrowly, but should any essay to watch him with a shameless stare he +will snatch away their power of vision. And if the gods themselves are +thus unseen, so too shall you find their ministers to be hidden also; +from the height of heaven above the thunderbolt is plainly hurled, and +triumphs over all that it encounters, yet it is all-invisible, no eye +may detect its coming or its going at the moment of its swoop. The winds +also are themselves unseen, though their works are manifest, and through +their approach we are aware of them. And let us not forget, the soul +of man himself, which if aught else human shares in the divine--however +manifestly enthroned within our bosom, is as wholly as the rest hidden +from our gaze. These things you should lay to mind, and not despise +the invisible ones, but learn to recognise their power, as revealed in +outward things, and to know the divine influence. (27) + + (20) Cf. Cic. "de N. D." I. xii. 31; Lactantius, "de Ira," xi. 13. + + (21) See L. Dindorf ad loc. (ed. Ox. 1862), {theous}; G. Sauppe, vol. + iii. "An. crit." p. xxix; R. Kuhner; C. Schenkl. + + (22) i.e. "that man must walk by faith." For {upodeiknunai} cf. + "Econ." xii. 18. + + (23) Schneid. cf. Plat. "Crat." 396. + + (24) Or, "the co-ordinator and container of the universe." + + (25) Or, "in whom all beauty and goodness is." + + (26) Cf. "Cyrop." VIII. vii. 22; above, I. iv. 13. + + (27) {to daimonion}, the divinity. + +Nay, Socrates (replied Euthydemus), there is no danger I shall turn a +deaf ear to the divine influence even a little; of that I am not afraid, +but I am out of heart to think that no soul of man may ever requite the +kindness of the gods with fitting gratitude. + +Be not out of heart because of that (he said); you know what answer the +god at Delphi makes to each one who comes asking "how shall I return +thanks to heaven?"--"According to the law and custom of your city"; and +this, I presume, is law and custom everywhere that a man should please +the gods with offerings according to the ability which is in him. (28) +How then should a man honour the gods with more beautiful or holier +honour than by doing what they bid him? but he must in no wise slacken +or fall short of his ability, for when a man so does, it is manifest, I +presume, that at the moment he is not honouring the gods. You must then +honour the gods, not with shortcoming but according to your ability; +and having so done, be of good cheer and hope to receive the greatest +blessings. For where else should a man of sober sense look to receive +great blessings if not from those who are able to help him most, and how +else should he hope to obtain them save by seeking to please his helper, +and how may he hope to please his helper better than by yielding him the +amplest obedience? + + (28) Or, "and that law, I presume, is universal which says, Let a + man," etc.; and for the maxim see above; "Anab." III. ii. 9. + +By such words--and conduct corresponding to his words--did Socrates +mould and fashion the hearts of his companions, making them at once more +devout and more virtuous. (29) + + (29) Or, "sounder of soul and more temperate as well as more pious." + + +IV + +But indeed (1) with respect to justice and uprightness he not only made +no secret of the opinion he held, but gave practical demonstration of +it, both in private by his law-abiding and helpful behaviour to all, (2) +and in public by obeying the magistrates in all that the laws enjoined, +whether in the life of the city or in military service, so that he was +a pattern of loyalty to the rest of the world, and on three several +occasions in particular: first, when as president (Epistates) of +the assembly he would not suffer the sovereign people to take an +unconstitutional vote, (3) but ventured, on the side of the laws, to +resist a current of popular feeling strong enough, I think, to have +daunted any other man. Again, when the Thirty tried to lay some +injunction on him contrary to the laws, he refused to obey, as for +instance when they forbade his conversing with the young; (4) or again, +when they ordered him and certain other citizens to arrest a man to +be put to death, (5) he stood out single-handed on the ground that the +injunctions laid upon him were contrary to the laws. And lastly, when +he appeared as defendant in the suit instituted by Meletus, (6) +notwithstanding that it was customary for litigants in the law courts +to humour the judges in the conduct of their arguments by flattery +and supplications contrary to the laws, (7) notwithstanding also that +defendants owed their acquittal by the court to the employment of such +methods, he refused to do a single thing however habitual in a court of +law which was not strictly legal; and though by only a slight deflection +from the strict path he might easily have been acquitted by his judges, +(8) he preferred to abide by the laws and die rather than transgress +them and live. + + (1) L. Dindorf suspects (SS. 1-6, {'Alla men... pollakis}), ed. + Lips. 1872. See also Praef. to Ox. ed. p. viii. + + (2) Or, "by his conduct to all, which was not merely innocent in the + eye of law and custom but positively helpful." + + (3) See above, I. i. 18; "Hell." I. vii. 14, 15; Grote, "H. G." viii. + 272. + + (4) See above, I. ii. 35. + + (5) Leon of Salamis. See "Hell." II. iii. 39; Plat. "Apol." 32 C; + Andoc. "de Myst." 46. + + (6) See above, I. i. 1; Plat. "Apol." 19 C. + + (7) Kuhner cf. Quintil. VI. i. 7: "Athenis affectus movere etiam per + praeconem prohibatur orator"; "Apol." 4; Plat. "Apol." 38 D, E. + + (8) See Grote, "H. G." viii. p. 663 foll. + +These views he frequently maintained in conversation, now with one and +now with another, and one particular discussion with Hippias of Elis (9) +on the topic of justice and uprightness has come to my knowledge. (10) + + (9) For this famous person see Cob. "Pros. Xen." s.n.; Plat. "Hipp. + maj." 148; Quint. xii. 11, 21; Grote, "H. G." viii. 524. + + (10) Or, "I can personally vouch for." + +Hippias had just arrived at Athens after a long absence, and chanced to +be present when Socrates was telling some listeners how astonishing +it was that if a man wanted to get another taught to be a shoemaker or +carpenter or coppersmith or horseman, he would have no doubt where to +send him for the purpose: "People say," (11) he added, "that if a man +wants to get his horse or his ox taught in the right way, (12) the world +is full of instructors; but if he would learn himself, or have his son +or his slave taught in the way of right, he cannot tell where to find +such instruction." + + (11) L. Dindorf, after Ruhnken and Valckenar, omits this sentence + {phasi de tines... didaxonton}. See Kuhner ad loc. For the + sentiment see Plat. "Apol." 20 A. + + (12) Cf. "Cyrop." II. ii. 26; VIII. iii. 38; also "Horsem." iii. 5; + "Hunting," vii. 4. + +Hippias, catching the words, exclaimed in a bantering tone: What! still +repeating the same old talk, (13) Socrates, which I used to hear from +you long ago? + + (13) This tale is repeated by Dio Chrys. "Or." III. i. 109. Cf. Plat. + "Gorg." 490 E. + +Yes (answered Socrates), and what is still more strange, Hippias, it is +not only the same old talk but about the same old subjects. Now you, I +daresay, through versatility of knowledge, (14) never say the same thing +twice over on the same subject? + + (14) Or, "such is the breadth of your learning," {polumathes}. Cf. + Plat. "Hipp. maj." + +To be sure (he answered), my endeavour is to say something new on all +occasions. + +What (he asked) about things which you know, as for instance in a case +of spelling, if any one asks you, "How many letters in Socrates, and +what is their order?" (15) I suppose you try to run off one string of +letters to-day and to-morrow another? or to a question of arithmetic, +"Does twice five make ten?" your answer to-day will differ from that of +yesterday? + + (15) Cf. "Econ." viii. 14; Plat. "Alc." i. 113 A. + +Hipp. No; on these topics, Socrates, I do as you do and repeat myself. +However, to revert to justice (and uprightness), (16) I flatter myself +I can at present furnish you with some remarks which neither you nor any +one else will be able to controvert. + + (16) Or, "on the topic of the just I have something to say at present + which," etc. + +By Hera! (17) (he exclaimed), what a blessing to have discovered! (18) +Now we shall have no more divisions of opinion on points of right and +wrong; judges will vote unanimously; citizens will cease wrangling; +there will be no more litigation, no more party faction, states will +reconcile their differences, and wars are ended. For my part I do not +know how I can tear myself away from you, until I have heard from your +own lips all about the grand discovery you have made. + + (17) See above, I. v. 5. + + (18) Or, "what a panacea are you the inventor of"; lit. "By Hera, you + have indeed discovered a mighty blessing, if juries are to cease + recording their verdicts 'aye' and 'no'; if citizens are to cease + their wranglings on points of justice, their litigations, and + their party strifes; if states are to cease differing on matters + of right and wrong and appealing to the arbitrament of war." + +You shall hear all in good time (Hippias answered), but not until you +make a plain statement of your own belief. What is justice? We have had +enough of your ridiculing all the rest of the world, questioning and +cross-examining first one and then the other, but never a bit will you +render an account to any one yourself or state a plain opinion upon a +single topic. (19) + + (19) See Plat. "Gorg." 465 A. + +What, Hippias (Socrates retorted), have you not observed that I am in a +chronic condition of proclaiming what I regard as just and upright? + +Hipp. And pray what is this theory (20) of yours on the subject? Let us +have it in words. + + (20) {o logos}. + +Soc. If I fail to proclaim it in words, at any rate I do so in deed and +in fact. Or do you not think that a fact is worth more as evidence than +a word? (21) + + (21) Or, "is of greater evidential value," "ubi res adsunt, quid opus + est verbis?" + +Worth far more, I should say (Hippias answered), for many a man with +justice and right on his lips commits injustice and wrong, but no doer +of right ever was a misdoer or could possibly be. + +Soc. I ask then, have you ever heard or seen or otherwise perceived me +bearing false witness or lodging malicious information, or stirring up +strife among friends or political dissension in the city, or committing +any other unjust and wrongful act? + +No, I cannot say that I have (he answered). + +Soc. And do you not regard it as right and just to abstain from wrong? +(22) + + (22) Or, "is not abstinence from wrongdoing synonymous with righteous + behaviour?" + +Hipp. Now you are caught, Socrates, plainly trying to escape from a +plain statement. When asked what you believe justice to be, you keep +telling us not what the just man does, but what he does not do. + +Why, I thought for my part (answered Socrates) that the refusal to do +wrong and injustice was a sufficient warrent in itself of righteousness +and justice, but if you do not agree, see if this pleases you better: I +assert that what is "lawful" is "just and righteous." + +Do you mean to assert (he asked) that lawful and just are synonymous +terms? + +Soc. I do. + +I ask (Hippias added), for I do not perceive what you mean by lawful, +nor what you mean by just. (23) + + (23) Lit. "what sort of lawful or what sort of just is spoken of." + +Soc. You understand what is meant by laws of a city or state? + +Yes (he answered). + +Soc. What do you take them to be? + +Hipp. The several enactments drawn up by the citizens or members of a +state in agreement as to what things should be done or left undone. + +Then I presume (Socrates continued) that a member of a state who +regulates his life in accordance with these enactments will be +law-abiding, while the transgressor of the same will be law-less? + +Certainly (he answered). + +Soc. And I presume the law-loving citizen will do what is just and +right, while the lawless man will do what is unjust and wrong? + +Hipp. Certainly. + +Soc. And I presume that he who does what is just is just, and he who +does what is unjust is unjust? + +Hipp. Of course. + +Soc. It would appear, then, that the law-loving man is just, and the +lawless unjust? + +Then Hippias: Well, but laws, Socrates, how should any one regard as a +serious matter either the laws themselves, or obedience to them, +which laws the very people who made them are perpetually rejecting and +altering? + +Which is also true of war (Socrates replied); cities are perpetually +undertaking war and then making peace again. + +Most true (he answered). + +Soc. If so, what is the difference between depreciating obedience to law +because laws will be repealed, and depreciating good discipline in war +because peace will one day be made? But perhaps you object to enthusiasm +displayed in defence of one's home and fatherland in war? + +No, indeed I do not! I heartily approve of it (he answered). + +Soc. Then have you laid to heart the lesson taught by Lycurgus to the +Lacedaemonians, (24) and do you understand that if he succeeded +in giving Sparta a distinction above other states, it was only by +instilling into her, beyond all else, a spirit of obedience to the laws? +And among magistrates and rulers in the different states, you would +scarcely refuse the palm of superiority to those who best contribute +to make their fellow-citizens obedient to the laws? And you would +admit that any particular state in which obedience to the laws is the +paramount distinction of the citizens flourishes most in peace time, and +in time of war is irresistible? But, indeed, of all the blessings which +a state may enjoy, none stands higher than the blessing of unanimity. +"Concord among citizens"--that is the constant theme of exhortation +emphasised by the councils of elders (25) and by the choice spirits of +the community; (26) at all times and everywhere through the length and +breadth of all Hellas it is an established law that the citizens be +bound together by an oath of concord; (27) everywhere they do actually +swear this oath; not of course as implying that citizens shall all vote +for the same choruses, or give their plaudits to the same flute-players, +or choose the same poets, or limit themselves to the same pleasures, but +simply that they shall pay obedience to the laws, since in the end that +state will prove most powerful and most prosperous in which the +citizens abide by these; but without concord neither can a state be well +administered nor a household well organised. + + (24) Cf. "Pol. Lac." viii. See Newman, op. cit. i. 396. + + (25) Lit. "the Gerousiai." {S} or {X S} uses the Spartan phraseology. + + (26) Lit. "the best men." {S} or {X S} speaks as an "aristocrat." + + (27) Cf. "Hell." II. iv. 43; Lys. xxv. 21 foll.; Schneid. cf. Lycurg. + "u Leocr." 189. + +And if we turn to private life, what better protection can a man +have than obedience to the laws? This shall be his safeguard against +penalties, his guarantee of honours at the hands of the community; it +shall be a clue to thread his way through the mazes of the law courts +unbewildered, secure against defeat, assured of victory. (28) It is +to him, the law-loving citizen, that men will turn in confidence when +seeking a guardian of the most sacred deposits, be it of money or be it +their sons or daughters. He, in the eyes of the state collectively, is +trustworthy--he and no other; who alone may be depended on to render to +all alike their dues--to parents and kinsmen and servants, to friends +and fellow-citizens and foreigners. This is he whom the enemy will +soonest trust to arrange an armistice, or a truce, or a treaty of peace. +They would like to become the allies of this man, and to fight on +his side. This is he to whom the allies (29) of his country will most +confidently entrust the command of their forces, or of a garrison, or +their states themselves. This, again, is he who may be counted on to +recompense kindness with gratitude, and who, therefore, is more sure of +kindly treatment than another whose sense of gratitude is fuller. (30) +The most desirable among friends, the enemy of all others to be avoided, +clearly he is not the person whom a foreign state would choose to go +to war with; encompassed by a host of friends and exempt from foes, his +very character has a charm to compel friendship and alliance, and before +him hatred and hostility melt away. + + (28) Or, "ignorant of hostile, assured of favourable verdict." + + (29) Lit. "the Allies," e.g. of Sparta or of Athens, etc. + + (30) Lit. "From whom may the doer of a deed of kindness more + confidently expect the recompense of gratitude than from your + lover of the law? and whom would one select as the recipient of + kindness rather than a man susceptible of gratitude?" + +And now, Hippias, I have done my part; that is my proof and +demonstration that the "lawful" and "law-observant" are synonymous +with the "upright" and the "just"; do you, if you hold a contrary view, +instruct us. (31) + + (31) For the style of this enconium (of the {nomimos}) cf. "Ages." i. + 36; and for the "Socratic" reverence for law cf. Plat. "Crito." + +Then Hippias: Nay, upon my soul, Socrates, I am not aware of holding any +contrary opinion to what you have uttered on the theme of justice. (32) + + (32) Lit. "the just and upright," {tou dikaiou}. + +Soc. But now, are you aware, Hippias, of certain unwritten laws? (33) + + (33) See Soph. "Antig." "Oed. T." 865, and Prof. Jebb ad loc.; Dem. + "de Cor." 317, 23; Aristot. "Rhet." I. xiii. + +Yes (he answered), those held in every part of the world, and in the +same sense. + +Can you then assert (asked Socrates) of these unwritten laws that men +made them? + +Nay, how (he answered) should that be, for how could they all have come +together from the ends of the earth? and even if they had so done, men +are not all of one speech? (34) + + (34) Or, "there would be difficulty of understanding each other, and a + babel of tongues." + +Soc. Whom then do you believe to have been the makers of these laws. + +Hipp. For my part, I think that the gods must have made these laws for +men, and I take it as proof that first and foremost it is a law and +custom everywhere to worship and reverence the gods. + +Soc. And, I presume, to honour parents is also customary everywhere? + +Yes, that too (he answered). + +Soc. And, I presume, also the prohibition of intermarriage between +parents and children? + +Hipp. No; at that point I stop, Socrates. That does not seem to me to be +a law of God. + +Now, why? (he asked). + +Because I perceive it is not infrequently transgressed (he answered). +(35) + + (35) Or, "as I perceive, it is not of universal application, some + transgress it." + +Soc. Well, but there are a good many other things which people +do contrary to law; only the penalty, I take it, affixed to the +transgression of the divine code is certain; there is no escape for the +offender after the manner in which a man may transgress the laws of man +with impunity, slipping through the fingers of justice by stealth, or +avoiding it by violence. + +Hipp. And what is the inevitable penalty paid by those who, being +related as parents and children, intermingle in marriage? + +Soc. The greatest of all penalties; for what worse calamity can human +beings suffer in the production of offspring than to misbeget? (36) + + (36) Or, "in the propagation of the species than to produce + misbegotten children." + +Hipp. But how or why should they breed them ill where nothing hinders +them, being of a good stock themselves and producing from stock as good? + +Soc. Because, forsooth, in order to produce good children, it is not +simply necessary that the parents should be good and of a good stock, +but that both should be equally in the prime and vigour of their bodies. +(37) Do you suppose that the seed of those who are at their prime is +like theirs who either have not yet reached their prime, or whose prime +has passed? + + (37) Cf. Plat. "Laws," viii. 839 A; Herbst, etc., cf. Grotius, "de + Jure," ii. 5, xii. 4. + +Hipp. No, it is reasonable to expect that the seed will differ. + +Soc. And for the better--which? + +Hipp. Theirs clearly who are at their prime. + +Soc. It would seem that the seed of those who are not yet in their prime +or have passed their prime is not good? + +Hipp. It seems most improbable it should be. + +Soc. Then the right way to produce children is not that way? + +Hipp. No, that is not the right way. + +Soc. Then children who are so produced are produced not as they ought to +be? + +Hipp. So it appears to me. + +What offspring then (he asked) will be ill produced, ill begotten, and +ill born, if not these? + +I subscribe to that opinion also (replied Hippias). + +Soc. Well, it is a custom universally respected, is it not, to return +good for good, and kindness with kindness? + +Hipp. Yes, a custom, but one which again is apt to be transgressed. + +Soc. Then he that so transgresses it pays penalty in finding himself +isolated; bereft of friends who are good, and driven to seek after those +who love him not. Or is it not so that he who does me kindness in +my intercourse with him is my good friend, but if I requite not this +kindness to my benefactor, I am hated by him for my ingratitude, and yet +I must needs pursue after him and cling to him because of the great gain +to me of his society? + +Hipp. Yes, Socrates. In all these cases, I admit, there is an +implication of divine authority; (38) that a law should in itself be +loaded with the penalty of its transgression does suggest to my mind a +higher than human type of legislator. + + (38) Lit. "Yes, upon my word, Socrates, all these cases look very like + (would seem to point to) the gods." + +Soc. And in your opinion, Hippias, is the legislation of the gods just +and righteous, or the reverse of what is just and righteous? + +Hipp. Not the reverse of what is just and righteous, Socrates, God +forbid! for scarcely could any other legislate aright, of not God +himself. + +Soc. It would seem then, Hippias, the gods themselves are well pleased +that "the lawful" and "the just" should be synonymous? (39) + + (39) Or, "it is well pleasing also to the gods that what is lawful is + just and what is just is lawful." + +By such language and by such conduct, through example and precept alike, +he helped to make those who approached him more upright and more just. + + +V + +And now I propose to show in what way he made those who were with him +more vigorous in action. (1) In the first place, as befitted one whose +creed was that a basis of self-command is indispensable to any noble +performance, he manifested himself to his companions as one who +had pre-eminently disciplined himself; (2) and in the next place by +conversation and discussion he encouraged them to a like self-restraint +beyond all others. (3) Thus it was that he continued ever mindful +himself, and was continually reminding all whom he encountered, +of matters conducive to virtue; as the following discussion with +Euthydemus, which has come to my knowledge, (4) will serve to +illustrate--the topic of the discussion being self-command. + + (1) Lit. "more practical," i.e. more energetic and effective. + + (2) "If any one might claim to be a prince of ascetics, it was + Socrates; such was the ineffaceable impression left on the minds + of his associates." + + (3) Or, "he stimulated in these same companions a spirit of self- + restraint beyond all else." + + (4) Or, "which I can vouch for." + +Tell me, Euthydemus (he began), do you believe freedom to be a noble and +magnificent acquisition, whether for a man or for a state? + +I cannot conceive a nobler or more magnificent (he answered). + +Soc. Then do you believe him to be a free man who is ruled by the +pleasures of the body, and thereby cannot perform what is best? + +Certainly not (he answered). + +Soc. No! for possibly to perform what is best appears to you to savour +of freedom? And, again, to have some one over you who will prevent you +doing the like seems a loss of freedom? + +Most decidedly (he answered). + +Soc. It would seem you are decidedly of opinion that the incontinent are +the reverse of free? (5) + + (5) Or, "incontinency is illiberal." + +Euth. Upon my word, I much suspect so. + +Soc. And does it appear to you that the incontinent man is merely +hindered from doing what is noblest, or that further he is impelled to +do what is most shameful? + +Euth. I think he is as much driven to the one as he is hindered from the +other. + +Soc. And what sort of lords and masters are those, think you, who at +once put a stop to what is best and enforce what is worst? + +Euth. Goodness knows, they must be the very worst of masters. + +Soc. And what sort of slavery do you take to be the worst? + +I should say (he answered) slavery to the worst masters. + +It would seem then (pursued Socrates) that the incontinent man is bound +over to the worst sort of slavery, would it not? + +So it appears to be (the other answered). + +Soc. And does it not appear to you that this same beldame incontinence +shuts out wisdom, which is the best of all things, (6) from mankind, +and plunges them into the opposite? Does it not appear to you that she +hinders men from attending to things which will be of use and benefit, +and from learning to understand them; that she does so by dragging them +away to things which are pleasant; and often though they are well aware +of the good and of the evil, she amazes and confounds (7) their wits and +makes them choose the worse in place of the better? + + (6) "Wisdom, the greatest good which men can possess." + + (7) Schneid. cf. Plat. "Protag." 355 A; and "Symp." iv. 23. + +Yes, so it comes to pass (he answered). + +Soc. And (8) soundness of soul, the spirit of temperate modesty? Who has +less claim to this than the incontinent man? The works of the temperate +spirit and the works of incontinency are, I take it, diametrically +opposed? + + (8) "And if this be so concerning wisdom, {sophia}, what of + {sophrasune}, soundness of soul--sobriety?" + +That too, I admit (he answered). + +Soc. If this then be so concerning these virtues, (9) what with regard +to carefulness and devotion to all that ought to occupy us? Can anything +more seriously militate against these than this same incontinence? + + (9) Or add, "If this be so concerning not wisdom only, but concerning + temperance and soundness of soul, what," etc. + +Nothing that I can think of (he replied). + +Soc. And can worse befall a man, think you? Can he be subjected to a +more baleful influence than that which induces him to choose what is +hurtful in place of what is helpful; which cajoles him to devote himself +to the evil and to neglect the good; which forces him, will he nill he, +to do what every man in his sober senses would shrink from and avoid? + +I can imagine nothing worse (he replied). + +Soc. Self-control, it is reasonable to suppose, will be the cause of +opposite effects upon mankind to those of its own opposite, the want of +self-control? + +Euth. It is to be supposed so. + +Soc. And this, which is the source of opposite effects to the very +worst, will be the very best of things? + +Euth. That is the natural inference. + +Soc. It looks, does it not, Euthydemus, as if self-control were the best +thing a man could have? + +It does indeed, Socrates (he answered). + +Soc. But now, Euthydemus, has it ever occurred to you to note one fact? + +What fact? (he asked). + +Soc. That, after all, incontinency is powerless to bring us to that +realm of sweetness which some look upon (10) as her peculiar province; +it is not incontinency but self-control alone which has the passport to +highest pleasures. + + (10) Or, "which we are apt to think of as." + +In what way? (he asked). How so? + +Why, this way (Socrates answered): since incontinency will not suffer us +to resist hunger and thirst, or to hold out against sexual appetite, or +want of sleep (which abstinences are the only channels to true pleasure +in eating and drinking, to the joys of love, to sweet repose and +blissful slumber won by those who will patiently abide and endure till +each particular happiness is at the flood) (11)--it comes to this: by +incontinency we are cut off from the full fruition of the more obvious +and constantly recurring pleasures. (12) To self-control, which alone +enables us to endure the pains aforesaid, alone belongs the power to +give us any pleasure worth remembering in these common cases. + + (11) Or, "at its season." Lit. "is as sweet as possible." + + (12) Or, "from tasting to any extent worth speaking of the most + necessary and all-pervading sources of happiness." + +You speak the words of truth (13) (he answered). + + (13) Lit. "What you say is absolutely and entirely true" (the "vraie + verite" of the matter). + +Soc. Furthermore, (14) if there be any joy in learning aught "beautiful +and good," or in patient application to such rules as may enable a man +to manage his body aright, or to administer his household well, or to +prove himself useful to his friends and to the state, or to dominate +his enemies--which things are the sources not only of advantage but of +deepest satisfaction (15)--to the continent and self-controlled it +is given to reap the fruits of them in their performance. It is the +incontinent who have neither part nor lot in any one of them. Since we +must be right in asserting that he is least concerned with such things +who has least ability to do them, being tied down to take an interest in +the pleasure which is nearest to hand. + + (14) Or, "But indeed, if there be joy in the pursuit of any noble + study or of such accomplishments as shall enable," etc. + + (15) Or, "of the highest pleasures." + +Euthydemus replied: Socrates, you would say, it seems to me, that a man +who is mastered by the pleasures of the body has no concern at all with +virtue. + +And what is the distinction, Euthydemus (he asked), between a man devoid +of self-control and the dullest of brute beasts? A man who foregoes all +height of aim, who gives up searching for the best and strives only to +gratify his sense of pleasure, (16) is he better than the silliest of +cattle? (17)... But to the self-controlled alone is it given to discover +the hid treasures. These, by word and by deed, they will pick out and +make selection of them according to their kinds, choosing deliberately +the good and holding aloof from the evil. (18) Thus (he added) it is +that a man reaches the zenith, as it were, of goodness and happiness, +thus it is that he becomes most capable of reasoning and discussion. +(19) The very name discussion ({dialegesthai}) is got from people coming +together and deliberating in common by picking out and selecting things +({dialegein}) according to their kinds. (20) A man then is bound to +prepare himself as much as possible for this business, and to pursue it +beyond all else with earnest resolution; for this is the right road to +excellence, this will make a man fittest to lead his fellows and be a +master in debate. (21) + + (16) Or, "and seeks by hook and by crook to do what is pleasantest." + + (17) i.e. he becomes an animal "feeding a blind life within the + brain." + + (18) Or, "selecting the ore and repudiating the dross." Kuhner cf. + Plat. "Laws," v. 735 B. + + (19) Or, "draws nearer to happiness and perfection, and is most + capable of truth-disclosing conversation." Cf. Plat. "Apol." 41: + "What would not a man give, O judges, to be able to examine the + leaders of the great Trojan expedition, or Odysseus, or Sisyphus, + or numberless others, men and women too! What infinite delight + would there be in conversing with them and asking them questions!" + (Jowett). + + (20) For {dialegein kata gene} = {dialegesthai}, cf. Grote, "H. G." + viii. 590. + + (21) Cf. Plat. "Rep." 534 D; "Phaedr." 252 E; "Crat." 390 C; + "Statesm." 286 D foll. + + +VI + +At this point I will endeavour to explain in what way Socrates fostered +this greater "dialectic" capacity among his intimates. (1) He held +firmly to the opinion that if a man knew what each reality was, he would +be able to explain this knowledge to others; but, failing the possession +of that knowledge, it did not surprise him that men should stumble +themselves and cause others to stumble also. (2) It was for this reason +that he never ceased inquiring with those who were with him into +the true nature of things that are. (3) It would be a long business +certainly to go through in detail all the definitions at which he +arrived; I will therefore content myself with such examples as will +serve to show his method of procedure. As a first instance I will +take the question of piety. The mode of investigation may be fairly +represented as follows. + + (1) Lit. "essayed to make those who were with him more potent in + dialectic." + + (2) Or, "Socrates believed that any one who knew the nature of + anything would be able to let others into his secret; but, failing + that knowledge, he thought the best of men would be but blind + leaders of the blind, stumbling themselves and causing others to + stumble also." + + (3) Or add, "'What is this among things? and what is its definition?' + --such was the ever-recurrent question for which he sought an + answer." + +Tell me (said he), Euthydemus, what sort of thing you take piety to be? + +Something most fair and excellent, no doubt (the other answered). (4) + + (4) Or, "A supreme excellence, no doubt." + +Soc. And can you tell me what sort of person the pious man is? (5) + + (5) Or, "can you give me a definition of the pious man?"; "tell me who + and what the pious man is." + +I should say (he answered) he is a man who honours the gods. + +Soc. And is it allowable to honour the gods in any mode or fashion one +likes? + +Euth. No; there are laws in accordance with which one must do that. + +Soc. Then he who knows these laws will know how he must honour the gods? + +I think so (he answered). + +Soc. And he who knows how he must honour the gods conceives that +he ought not to do so except in the manner which accords with his +knowledge? (6) Is it not so? + + (6) i.e. "his practice must square with his knowledge and be the + outward expression of his belief?" + +Euth. That is so. (7) + + (7) "That is so; you rightly describe his frame of mind and + persuasion." + +Soc. And does any man honour the gods otherwise than he thinks he ought? +(8) + + (8) "As he should and must." See K. Joel, op. cit. p. 322 foll. + +I think not (he answered). + +Soc. It comes to this then: he who knows what the law requires in +reference to the gods will honour the gods in the lawful way? (9) + + (9) Or, "he who knows what is lawful with regard to Heaven pays honour + to Heaven lawfully." + +Euth. Certainly. + +Soc. But now, he who honours lawfully honours as he ought? (10) + + (10) "As he should and must." + +Euth. I see no alternative. + +Soc. And he who honours as he ought is a pious man? + +Euth. Certainly. + +Soc. It would appear that he who knows what the law requires with +respect to the gods will correctly be defined as a pious man, and that +is our definition? + +So it appears to me, at any rate (he replied). (11) + + (11) "I accept it at any rate as mine." N.B.--in reference to this + definition of Piety, the question is never raised {poion ti esti + nomos}; nor yet {poioi tines eisin oi theoi}; but clearly there is + a growth in {ta nomima}. Cf. the conversation recorded in St. John + iv. 7 foll., and the words (verse 23) {pneuma o Theos kai tous + proskunountas auton en pneumati kai aletheia dei proskunein}, + which the philosopher Socrates would perhaps readily have assented + to. + +Soc. But now, with regard to human beings; is it allowable to deal with +men in any way one pleases? (12) + + (12) Or, "may a man deal with his fellow-men arbitrarily according to + his fancy?" See above, II. vii. 8. + +Euth. No; with regard to men also, he will be a law-observing man (13) +who knows what things are lawful as concerning men, in accordance with +which our dealings with one another must be conducted. (14) + + (13) Or, "he is a man full of the law (lawful) and law-abiding who + knows," etc. + + (14) Reading {kath' a dei pros allelous khresthai}, subaud. + {allelois}, or if vulg. {kath' a dei pos allelois khresthai}, + translate "must be specifically conducted." + +Soc. Then those who deal with one another in this way, deal with each +other as they ought? (15) + + (15) "As they should and must." + +Obviously (he answered). + +Soc. And they who deal with one another as they ought, deal well and +nobly--is it not so? + +Certainly (he answered). + +Soc. And they who deal well and nobly by mankind are well-doers in +respect of human affairs? + +That would seem to follow (he replied). + +Soc. I presume that those who obey the laws do what is just and right? + +Without a doubt, (he answered). + +Soc. And by things right and just you know what sort of things are +meant? + +What the laws ordain (he answered). + +Soc. It would seem to follow that they who do what the laws ordain both +do what is right and just and what they ought? (16) + + (16) "What they should and must." + +Euth. I see no alternative. + +Soc. But then, he who does what is just and right is upright and just? +(17) + + (17) This proposition, as Kuhner argues (ad loc.), is important as + being the middle term of the double syllogism (A and B)-- + + A. Those who do what the law demands concerning men do what is + just and right. + + Those who do what is just and right are righteous and just. + + Ergo--Those who do what the law demands concerning men are + righteous and just. + + B. Those who know what is just and right ought (and are bound, + cf. above, III. ix. 4) to do also what is just and right. + + Those who do what is just and right are righteous and just. + + Ergo--Righteous and Just ({dikaioi}) may be defined as "Those + who know what the law demands (aliter things right and just) + concerning men." + +I should say so myself (he answered). + +Soc. And should you say that any one obeys the laws without knowing what +the laws ordain? + +I should not (he answered). + +Soc. And do you suppose that any one who knows what things he ought to +do supposes that he ought not to do them? (18) + + (18) Or, "and no one who knows what he must and should do imagines + that he must and should not do it?" + +No, I suppose not (he answered). + +Soc. And do you know of anybody doing other than what he feels bound to +do? (19) + + (19) Or, "and nobody that you know of does the contrary of what he + thinks he should do?" + +No, I do not (he answered). + +Soc. It would seem that he who knows what things are lawful (20) as +concerning men does the things that are just and right? + + (20) Or, "of lawful obligation." + +Without a doubt (he answered). + +Soc. But then, he who does what is just and right is upright and just? +(21) + + (21) N.B.--In reference to this definition of justice, see K. Joel, + op. cit. p. 323 foll., "Das ist eine Karrikatur des Sokratischen + Dialogs." + +Who else, if not? (he replied). + +Soc. It would seem, then, we shall have got to a right definition if we +name as just and upright those who know the things which are lawful as +concerning men? + +That is my opinion (he answered). + +Soc. And what shall we say that wisdom is? Tell me, does it seem to you +that the wise are wise in what they know, (22) or are there any who are +wise in what they know not? + + (22) Or, "in that of which they have the knowledge ({episteme})." + +Euth. Clearly they are wise in what they know; (23) for how could a man +have wisdom in that which he does not know? + + (23) Or, "their wisdom is confined to that of which they have the + {episteme}. How could a man be wise in what he lacks the knowledge + of?" + +Soc. In fact, then, the wise are wise in knowledge? + +Euth. Why, in what else should a man be wise save only in knowledge? + +Soc. And is wisdom anything else than that by which a man is wise, think +you? + +Euth. No; that, and that only, I think. + +Soc. It would seem to follow that knowledge and wisdom are the same? + +Euth. So it appears to me. + +Soc. May I ask, does it seem to you possible for a man to know all the +things that are? + +Euth. No, indeed! not the hundredth part of them, I should say. + +Soc. Then it would seem that it is impossible for a man to be all-wise? + +Quite impossible (he answered). + +Soc. It would seem the wisdom of each is limited to his knowledge; each +is wise only in what he knows? + +Euth. That is my opinion. (24) + + (24) Cf. Plat. "Theaet." 145 D. N.B.--For this definition of wisdom + see K. Joel, ib. p. 324 foll. + +Soc. Well! come now, Euthydemus, as concerning the good: ought we to +search for the good in this way? + +What way? (he asked). + +Soc. Does it seem to you that the same thing is equally advantageous to +all? + +No, I should say not (he answered). + +Soc. You would say that a thing which is beneficial to one is sometimes +hurtful to another? + +Decidedly (he replied). + +Soc. And is there anything else good except that which is beneficial, +should you say? (25) + + (25) Or reading (1) {allo d' an ti phaies e agathon einai to + ophelimon}; or else (2) {allo d' an ti phaies agathon einai to + ophelimon}; (in which case {alloti} = {allo ti e};) translate (1) + "and what is beneficial is good (or a good), should you not say?" + lit. "could you say that the beneficial is anything else than good + (or a good)?" or else (2) "and what is beneficial is good (or a + good)? or is it anything else?" + +Nothing else (he answered). + +Soc. It would seem to follow that the beneficial is good relatively to +him to whom it is beneficial? + +That is how it appears to me (he answered). + +Soc. And the beautiful: can we speak of a thing as beautiful in any +other way than relatively? or can you name any beautiful thing, body, +vessel, or whatever it be, which you know of as universally beautiful? +(26) + + (26) i.e. "beautiful in all relations into which it enters." Reading + {to de kalon ekhoimen an pos allos eipein e estin onomazein kalon + e soma e skeuos e all' otioun, o oistha pros tanta kalon on; Ma + Di', ouk egog', ephe}. For other emendations of the vulg., and the + many interpretations which have been given to the passage, see R. + Kuhner ad loc. + +Euth. I confess I do not know of any such myself. (27) + + (27) Or, adopting the reading {ekhois an} in place of {ekhoimen an} + above, translate "I certainly cannot, I confess." + +Soc. I presume to turn a thing to its proper use is to apply it +beautifully? + +Euth. Undoubtedly it is a beautiful appliance. (28) + + (28) Or, "I presume it is well and good and beautiful to use this, + that, and the other thing for the purpose for which the particular + thing is useful?"--"That nobody can deny (he answered)." It is + impossible to convey simply the verbal play and the quasi- + argumentative force of the Greek {kalos ekhei pros ti tini + khresthai}. See K. Joel, p. 426. + +Soc. And is this, that, and the other thing beautiful for aught else +except that to which it may be beautifully applied? + +Euth. No single thing else. + +Soc. It would seem that the useful is beautiful relatively to that for +which it is of use? + +So it appears to me (he answered). + +Soc. And what of courage, (29) Euthydemus? I presume you rank courage +among things beautiful? It is a noble quality? (30) + + (29) Or, perhaps better, "fortitude." See H. Sidgwick, "Hist. of + Ethics," p. 43. + + (30) It is one of {ta kala}. See K. Joel, ib. p. 325, and in reference + to the definitions of the Good and of the Beautiful, ib. p. 425 + foll. + +Nay, one of the most noble (he answered). + +Soc. It seems that you regard courage as useful to no mean end? + +Euth. Nay, rather the greatest of all ends, God knows. + +Soc. Possibly in face of terrors and dangers you would consider it an +advantage to be ignorant of them? + +Certainly not (he answered). + +Soc. It seems that those who have no fear in face of dangers, simply +because they do not know what they are, are not courageous? + +Most true (he answered); or, by the same showing, a large proportion of +madmen and cowards would be courageous. + +Soc. Well, and what of those who are in dread of things which are not +dreadful, are they-- + +Euth. Courageous, Socrates?--still less so than the former, goodness +knows. + +Soc. Possibly, then, you would deem those who are good in the face of +terrors and dangers to be courageous, and those who are bad in the face +of the same to be cowards? + +Certainly I should (he answered). + +Soc. And can you suppose any other people to be good in respect of such +things except those who are able to cope with them and turn them to +noble account? (31) + + (31) {kalos khresthai}, lit. "make a beautiful use of them." + +No; these and these alone (he answered). + +Soc. And those people who are of a kind to cope but badly with the same +occurrences, it would seem, are bad? + +Who else, if not they? (he asked). + +Soc. May it be that both one and the other class do use these +circumstances as they think they must and should? (32) + + (32) Or, "feel bound and constrained to do." + +Why, how else should they deal with them? (he asked). + +Soc. Can it be said that those who are unable to cope well with them or +to turn them to noble account know how they must and should deal with +them? (33) + + (33) Or, "Can it be said that those who are unable to cope nobly with + their perilous surroundings know how they ought to deal with + them?" + +I presume not (he answered). + +Soc. It would seem to follow that those who have the knowledge how to +behave are also those who have the power? (34) + + (34) "He who kens can." + +Yes; these, and these alone (he said). + +Soc. Well, but now, what of those who have made no egregious blunder (in +the matter); can it be they cope ill with the things and circumstances +we are discussing? + +I think not (he answered). + +Soc. It would seem, conversely, that they who cope ill have made some +egregious blunder? + +Euth. Probably; indeed, it would appear to follow. + +Soc. It would seem, then, that those who know (35) how to cope with +terrors and dangers well and nobly are courageous, and those who fail +utterly of this are cowards? + + (35) "Who have the {episteme}." + +So I judge them to be (he answered). (36) + + (36) N.B.--For this definition of courage see Plat. "Laches," 195 A + and passim; K. Joel, op. cit. p. 325 foll. + +A kingdom and a tyranny (37) were, he opined, both of them forms of +government, but forms which differed from one another, in his belief; a +kingdom was a government over willing men in accordance with civil law, +whereas a tyranny implied the government over unwilling subjects not +according to law, but so as to suit the whims and wishes of the ruler. + + (37) Or, "despotism." + +There were, moreover, three forms of citizenship or polity; in the +case where the magistrates were appointed from those who discharged the +obligations prescribed by law, he held the polity to be an aristocracy +(or rule of the best); (38) where the title to office depended on +rateable property, it was a plutocracy (or rule of wealth); and lastly, +where all the citizens without distinction held the reins of office, +that was a democracy (or rule of the people). + + (38) Or, "in which the due discharge of lawful (law-appointed) + obligations gave the title to magisterial office and government, + this form of polity he held to be an aristocracy (or rule of the + best)." See Newman, op. cit. i. 212, 235. + +Let me explain his method of reply where the disputant had no clear +statement to make, but without attempt at proof chose to contend +that such or such a person named by himself was wiser, or more of a +statesman, or more courageous, and so forth, than some other person. +(39) Socrates had a way of bringing the whole discussion back to the +underlying proposition, (40) as thus: + + (39) Or, "if any one encountered him in argument about any topic or + person without any clear statement, but a mere ipse dixit, devoid + of demonstration, that so and so," etc. + + (40) Or, "question at bottom." Cf. Plat. "Laws," 949 B. + +Soc. You state that so and so, whom you admire, is a better citizen that +this other whom I admire? + +The Disputant. Yes; I repeat the assertion. + +Soc. But would it not have been better to inquire first what is the work +or function of a good citizen? + +The Disputant. Let us do so. + +Soc. To begin, then, with the matter of expenditure: his superiority +will be shown by his increasing the resources and lightening the +expenditure of the state? (41) + + (41) Or, "In the management of moneys, then, his strength will consist + in his rendering the state better provided with ways and means?" + +Certainly (the disputant would answer). + +Soc. And in the event of war, by rendering his state superior to her +antagonists? + +The Disputant. Clearly. + +Soc. Or on an embassy as a diplomatist, I presume, by securing friends +in place of enemies? + +That I should imagine (replies the disputant). + +Soc. Well, and in parliamentary debate, by putting a stop to party +strife and fostering civic concord? + +The Disputant. That is my opinion. + +By this method of bringing back the argument to its true starting-point, +even the disputant himself would be affected and the truth become +manifest to his mind. + +His own--that is, the Socratic--method of conducting a rational +discussion (42) was to proceed step by step from one point of general +agreement to another: "Herein lay the real security of reasoning," (43) +he would say; and for this reason he was more successful in winning the +common assent of his hearers than any one I ever knew. He had a saying +that Homer had conferred on Odyesseus the title of a safe, unerring +orator, (44) because he had the gift to lead the discussion from one +commonly accepted opinion to another. + + (42) Of, "of threading the mazes of an argument." + + (43) Reading {tauton asphaleian}; aliter. {tauten ten asphaleian} = + "that this security was part and parcel of reasoning." + + (44) "Od." viii. 171, {o d' asphaleos agoreuei}, "and his speech runs + surely on its way" (Butcher and Lang), where Odysseus is + describing himself. Cf. Dion. Hal. "de Arte Rhet." xi. 8. + + +VII + +The frankness and simplicity with which Socrates endeavoured to declare +his own opinions, in dealing with those who conversed with him, (1) is, +I think, conclusively proved by the above instances; at the same time, +as I hope now to show, he was no less eager to cultivate a spirit of +independence in others, which would enable them to stand alone in all +transactions suited to their powers. + + (1) Or, "who frequented his society, is, I hope, clear from what has + been said." + +Of all the men I have ever known, he was most anxious to ascertain in +what any of those about him was really versed; and within the range of +his own knowledge he showed the greatest zeal in teaching everything +which it befits the true gentleman (2) to know; or where he was +deficient in knowledge himself, (3) he would introduce his friends to +those who knew. (4) He did not fail to teach them also up to what point +it was proper for an educated man to acquire empiric knowledge of any +particular matter. (5) + + (2) Lit. "a beautiful and good man." + + (3) Or, "where he lacked acquaintance with the matter himself." See, + for an instance, "Econ." iii. 14. + + (4) "To those who had the special knowledge"; "a connoisseur in the + matter." + + (5) Or, "of any particular branch of learning"; "in each department of + things." + +To take geometry as an instance: Every one (he would say) ought to be +taught geometry so far, at any rate, as to be able, if necessary, to +take over or part with a piece of land, or to divide it up or assign a +portion of it for cultivation, (6) and in every case by geometric rule. +(7) That amount of geometry was so simple indeed, and easy to learn, +that it only needed ordinary application of the mind to the method of +mensuration, and the student could at once ascertain the size of the +piece of land, and, with the satisfaction of knowing its measurement, +depart in peace. But he was unable to approve of the pursuit of geometry +up to the point at which it became a study of unintelligible diagrams. +(8) What the use of these might be, he failed, he said, to see; and +yet he was not unversed in these recondite matters himself. (9) These +things, he would say, were enough to wear out a man's life, and to +hinder him from many other more useful studies. (10) + + (6) {e ergon apodeixasthai}, or "and to explain the process." Cf. + Plat. "Rep." vii. 528 D. See R. Kuhner ad loc. for other + interpretations of the phrase. Cf. Max. Tyr. xxxvii. 7. + + (7) Or, "by correct measurement"; lit. "by measurement of the earth." + + (8) Cf. Aristot. "Pol." v. (viii.) 2; Cic. "Acad. Post." I. iv. 15. + For the attitude compare the attitude of a philosopher in other + respects most unlike Socrates--August Comte, e.g. as to the + futility of sidereal astronomy, "Pos. Pol." i. 412 (Bridges). + + (9) Cf. Isocr. "On the Antidosis," 258-269, as to the true place of + "Eristic" in education. See above, IV. ii. 10. + + (10) Cf. A. Comte as to "perte intellectuelle" in the pursuit of + barren studies. + +Again, a certain practical knowledge of astronomy, a certain skill in +the study of the stars, he strongly insisted on. Every one should know +enough of the science to be able to discover the hour of the night or +the season of the month or year, for the purposes of travel by land or +sea--the march, the voyage, and the regulations of the watch; (11) and +in general, with regard to all matters connected with the night season, +or with the month, or the year, (12) it was well to have such reliable +data to go upon as would serve to distinguish the various times and +seasons. But these, again, were pieces of knowledge easily learnt from +night sportsmen, (13) pilots of vessels, and many others who make it +their business to know such things. As to pushing the study of astronomy +so far as to include a knowledge of the movements of bodies outside +our own orbit, whether planets or stars of eccentric movement, (14) or +wearing oneself out endeavouring to discover their distances from +the earth, their periods, and their causes, (15) all this he strongly +discountenanced; for he saw (he said) no advantage in these any more +than in the former studies. And yet he was not unversed (16) in the +subtleties of astronomy any more than in those of geometry; only these, +again, he insisted, were sufficient to wear out a man's lifetime, and to +keep him away from many more useful pursuits. + + (11) Schneid. cf. Plat. "Rep." vii. 527 D. + + (12) "Occurrences connected with the night, the month, or year." e.g. + the festival of the Karneia, the {tekmerion} (point de repere) of + which is the full moon of August. Cf. Eur. "Alc." 449. + + (13) See Plat. "Soph." 220 D; above, III. xi. 8; "Cyrop." I. vi. 40; + "Hunting," xii. 6; Hippocr. "Aer." 28. + + (14) See Lewis, "Astron. of the Ancients"; cf. Diog. Laert. vii. 1. + 144. + + (15) Or, "the causes of these." + + (16) {oude touton ge anekoos en}. He had "heard," it is said, + Archelaus, a pupil of Anaxagoras. Cf. Cic. "Tusc." V. iv. 10. + +And to speak generally, in regard of things celestial he set his face +against attempts to excogitate the machinery by which the divine power +formed its several operations. (17) Not only were these matters beyond +man's faculties to discover, as he believed, but the attempt to search +out what the gods had not chosen to reveal could hardly (he supposed) +be well pleasing in their sight. Indeed, the man who tortured his brains +about such subjects stood a fair chance of losing his wits entirely, +just as Anaxagoras, (18) the headiest speculator of them all, in his +attempt to explain the divine mechanism, had somewhat lost his head. +Anaxagoras took on himself to assert that sun and fire are identical, +(19) ignoring the fact that human beings can easily look at fire, but to +gaze steadily into the face of the sun is given to no man; or that under +the influence of his rays the colour of the skin changes, but under the +rays of fire not. (20) He forgot that no plant or vegetation springs +from earth's bosom with healthy growth without the help of sunlight, +whilst the influence of fire is to parch up everything, and to destroy +life; and when he came to speak of the sun as being a "red-hot stone" he +ignored another fact, that a stone in fire neither lights up nor lasts, +whereas the sun-god abides for ever with intensist brilliancy undimmed. + + (17) Or, "he tried to divert one from becoming overly-wise in heavenly + matters and the 'mecanique celeste' of the Godhead in His several + operations." See above, I. i. 11. See Grote, "Plato," i. 438. + + (18) Of Clazomenae. Cf. Plat. "Apol." 14; Diog. Laert. II. vi; Cic. + "Tusc." V. iv. 10; Cobet, "Prosop. Xen." s.n.; Grote, "H. G." i. + 501. + + (19) Or, "that the sun was simply a fire, forgetting so simple a fact + as that." + + (20) Or, "the complexion darkens, whereas fire has no such effect." + +Socrates inculcated the study of reasoning processes, (21) but in these, +equally with the rest, he bade the student beware of vain and idle +over-occupation. Up to the limit set by utility, he was ready to join +in any investigation, and to follow out an argument with those who were +with him; but there he stopped. He particularly urged those who were +with him to pay the utmost attention to health. They would learn all +it was possible to learn from adepts, and not only so, but each one +individually should take pains to discover, by a lifelong observation of +his own case, what particular regimen, what meat or drink, or what kind +of work, best suited him; these he should turn to account with a view to +leading the healthiest possible life. It would be no easy matter for +any one who would follow this advice, and study his own idiosyncrasy, +to find a doctor to improve either on the diagnosis or the treatment +requisite. (22) + + (21) {logismous} = (1) "arithmetic," (2) "calculation," (3) + "syllogistic reasoning." See L. Dind. "Index. Gr." s.v., and + Kuhner ad loc.; cf. Plat. "Gorg." 451 C. It is important to decide + which form of "logism" is meant here. + + (22) Or, "to find a doctor better able than himself to 'diagnose' and + prescribe a treatment congenial to health." Cf. Tac. "Ann." vi. + 46; Plut. "de San." 136 E, ap. Schneid. ad loc. + +Where any one came seeking for help which no human wisdom could supply, +he would counsel him to give heed to "divination." He who has the secret +of the means whereby the gods give signs to men touching their affairs +can never surely find himself bereft of heavenly guidance. + + +VIII + +Now if any one should be disposed to set the statement of Socrates +touching the divinity (1) which warned him what he ought to do or not +to do, against the fact that he was sentenced to death by the board of +judges, and argue that thereby Socrates stood convicted of lying and +delusion in respect of this "divinity" of his, I would have him to note +in the first place that, at the date of his trial, Socrates was already +so far advanced in years that had he not died then his life would have +reached its natural term soon afterwards; and secondly, as matters went, +he escaped life's bitterest load (2) in escaping those years which +bring a diminution of intellectual force to all--instead of which he was +called upon to exhibit the full robustness of his soul and acquire glory +in addition, (3) partly by the style of his defence--felicitous alike in +its truthfulness, its freedom, and its rectitude (4)--and partly by +the manner in which he bore the sentence of condemnation with infinite +gentleness and manliness. Since no one within the memory of man, it is +admitted, ever bowed his head to death more nobly. After the sentence he +must needs live for thirty days, since it was the month of the "Delia," +(5) and the law does not suffer any man to die by the hand of the public +executioner until the sacred embassy return from Delos. During the whole +of that period (as his acquaintances without exception can testify) +his life proceeded as usual. There was nothing to mark the difference +between now and formerly in the even tenour of its courage; and it was +a life which at all times had been a marvel of cheerfulness and calm +content. (6) + + (1) Or, "the words of Socrates with regard to a divine something which + warned him," etc. + + (2) The phraseology is poetical. + + (3) Or, "in a manner which redounded to his glory." + + (4) Or, "marvellous alike for the sincerity of its language, the free + unbroken spirit of its delivery, and the absolute rectitude of the + speaker." + + (5) i.e. the lesser "Delian" solemnities, an annual festival + instituted, it was said, by Theseus. See Plut. "Theseus," 23 + (Clough, i. 19); and for the whole matter see Plat. "Phaed." 58 + foll. + + (6) Cf. Arist. "Frogs," 82; of Sophocles, {o d' eukolos men enthad', + eukolos d' ekei}. + + (Let us pause and ask how could man die more nobly and more +beautifully than in the way described? or put it thus: dying so, +then was his death most noble and most beautiful; and being the most +beautiful, then was it also the most fortunate and heaven-blest; and +being most blessed of heaven, then was it also most precious in the +sight of God.) (7) + + (7) This is bracketed as spurious by Sauppe and other commentators. + But see "Cyrop." VIII. ii. 7, 8, for similar ineptitude of style. + R. Kuhner defends the passage as genuine. + +And now I will mention further certain things which I have heard from +Hermogenes, the son of Hipponicus, (8) concerning him. He said that even +after Meletus (9) had drawn up the indictment, he himself used to hear +Socrates conversing and discussing everything rather than the suit +impending, and had ventured to suggest that he ought to be considering +the line of his defence, to which, in the first instance, the master +answered: "Do I not seem to you to have been practising that my whole +life long?" And upon his asking "How?" added in explanation that he had +passed his days in nothing else save in distinguishing between what is +just and what is unjust (right and wrong), and in doing what is right +and abstaining from what is wrong; "which conduct" (he added) "I hold +to be the finest possible practice for my defence"; and when he +(Hermogenes), returning to the point again, pleaded with Socrates: "Do +you not see, Socrates, how commonly it happens that an Athenian jury, +under the influence of argument, condemns innocent people to death and +acquits real criminals?"--Socrates replied, "I assure you, Hermogenes, +that each time I have essayed to give my thoughts to the defence which I +am to make before the court, the divinity (10) has opposed me." And when +he (Hermogenes) exclaimed, "How strange!"--"Do you find it strange" (he +continued), "that to the Godhead it should appear better for me to close +my life at once? Do you not know that up to the present moment there +is no man whom I can admit to have spent a better or happier life than +mine. Since theirs I regard as the best of lives who study best to +become as good as may be, and theirs the happiest who have the liveliest +sense of growth in goodness; and such, hitherto, is the happy fortune +which I perceive to have fallen to my lot. To such conclusion I have +come, not only in accidental intercourse with others, but by a strict +comparison drawn between myself and others, and in this faith I +continue to this day; and not I only, but my friends continue in a like +persuasion with regard to me, not for the lame reason that they are +my friends and love me (or else would others have been in like case as +regards their friends), but because they are persuaded that by being +with me they will attain to their full height of goodness. But, if I am +destined to prolong my days, maybe I shall be enforced to pay in full +the penalties of old age--to see and hear less keenly, to fail in +intellectual force, and to leave school, as it were, more of a dunce +than when I came, less learned and more forgetful--in a word, I shall +fall from my high estate, and daily grow worse in that wherein aforetime +I excelled. But indeed, were it possible to remain unconscious of the +change, the life left would scarcely be worth living; but given that +there is a consciousness of the change, then must the existence left to +live be found by comparison insipid, joyless, a death in life, devoid of +life's charm. But indeed, if it is reserved for me to die unjustly, then +on those who unjustly slay me lies the shame (since, given injustice is +base, how can any unjust action whatsoever fail of baseness?) (11) But +for me what disgrace is it that others should fail of a just decision +and right acts concerning me?... I see before me a long line of +predecessors on this road, and I mark the reputation also among +posterity which they have left. (12) I note how it varies according as +they did or suffered wrong, and for myself I know that I too, although I +die to-day, shall obtain from mankind a consideration far different from +that which will be accorded to those who put me to death. I know that +undying witness will be borne me to this effect, that I never at any +time did wrong to any man, or made him a worse man, but ever tried to +make those better who were with me." + + (8) See above, II. x. 3; "Symp." i. 3; iii. 14; iv. 47 foll.; vi. 2; + "Apol." 2; Plat. "Crat." 384. + + (9) See above, I. i. 1. + + (10) {to daimonion}--"the divine (voice)." + + (11) This passage also may, perhaps, be regarded as spurious. + + (12) Or, "There floats before my eyes a vision of the many who have + gone this same gate. I note their legacies of fame among + posterity." + +Such are the words which he spoke in conversation with Hermogenes and +the rest. But amongst those who knew Socrates and recognised what manner +of man he was, all who make virtue and perfection their pursuit still to +this day cease not to lament his loss with bitterest regret, as for one +who helped them in the pursuit of virtue as none else could. + +To me, personally, he was what I have myself endeavoured to describe: so +pious and devoutly religious (13) that he would take no step apart +from the will of heaven; so just and upright that he never did even a +trifling injury to any living soul; so self-controlled, so temperate, +that he never at any time chose the sweeter in place of the better; so +sensible, and wise, and prudent that in distinguishing the better from +the worse he never erred; nor had he need of any helper, but for the +knowledge of these matters, his judgment was at once infallible and +self-sufficing. Capable of reasonably setting forth and defining moral +questions, (14) he was also able to test others, and where they erred, +to cross-examine and convict them, and so to impel and guide them in the +path of virtue and noble manhood. With these characteristics, he seemed +to be the very impersonation of human perfection and happiness. (15) + + (13) Or, "of such piety and religious devotedness... of such + rectitude... of such sobreity and self-control... of such + sound sense and wisdom..." + + (14) Or, "gifted with an ability logically to set forth and to define + moral subtleties." + + (15) Or, "I look upon him as at once the best and happiest of men." + +Such is our estimate. If the verdict fail to satisfy I would ask those +who disagree with it to place the character of any other side by side +with this delineation, and then pass sentence. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memorabilia, by Xenophon + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MEMORABILIA *** + +***** This file should be named 1177.txt or 1177.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/7/1177/ + +Produced by John Bickers + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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