Phaedrus — Plato
The text is shown on its own: no facing layer is held for this issue.
p. 134being you will never be able to find any likeness however remote, either among men who now are or who ever have been, except that which I have already suggested of Silenus and the satyrs ; and this is an allegory not only of himself, but also of his words.
For, although I forgot to mention this before, his words are ridiculous when you first hear them ; he clothes ^^^" himself in language that is as the skin of the wanton satyr — for his talk is of pack-asses and smiths and cobblers and curriers, and he is always repeating the same things in the same words, so that an ignorant man who did not know him might feel disposed to laugh at him ; but he who pierces the mask and sees what is within will find that they are the only words which have a meaning in them, and also the most divine, abounding in fair examples of virtue, and of the largest discourse, or rather extending to the whole duty of a good and honorable man. . . .
Agathon arose in order that he might take his place on the couch by Socrates, when suddenly a band of revelers entered, and spoiled the order of the banquet. Some one who was going out having left the door open, they had found their way in, and made themselves at home ; great confusion ensued, and every one was compelled to drink large quantities of wine.
Aristodemus said that Eryximachus, Phaedrus, and others went away — ^he himself fell asleep, and as the nights were long took a good rest : he was awakened towards daybreak by a crowing of cocks, and when he awoke, the others were either asleep, or had gone away ; there remained awake only Socrates, Aristophanes, and Agathon, who were drinking out of a large goblet which they passed round, and Socrates was discoursing to them.
Aristodemus did not hear the beginning of the discourse, and he was only half awake, but the chief thing which he remembered, was Socrates insisting to the other two that the genius of comedy was the same as that of tragedy, and that the writer of tragedy ought to be a writer of comedy also. To this they were compelled to assent, being sleepy, and not quite understanding his meaning.
And first of all Aristophanes dropped, and then, when the day was already dawning, Agathon. Socrates, when he had put them to sleep, rose to depart, Aristodemus, as his manner was, following him. At the Lyceum he took a bath and passed the day as usual ; and when evening came he retired to rest at his own home.
PH/EDRUS
^•
I*'
■■■' I
This dialogue apparenffy &^s^wo subjects : rhetoric or the
V INTRODUCTION art of discourse, and love. The )fwo 'suJ5j2cts are * introduced by the reading of a rhetorical discourse by Lysias on love. Socrates follows this by another rhetorical discourse on love. He then declares himself conscience^stricken f^ having discoursed upon the mosftsacfed subject in an artificial way. He will redeem himself vy setting forth the true nature of ' love. Love is, he says, in reality, a divine mania or ecstasy like that which moves the poet and prophet, or like that which purges the soul of sin. The love ecstasy may be of a baser sort leading the soul toward earthly pleasure which corrupts, or of a purer sort leading the soul into communion with God and to the winning of other souls to the divine life. . The criticism which Socrates makes upon his own first discourse and that of Lysias leads to a further discussion of rhetoric. The professors of rhetoric, Socrates holds, do not at all understand the true nature of the art of discourse. That art requires a knowledge of the truth, and a knowledge of the souls to be spoken to, not only as to their general character, but also as to their individual peculiarities. Let us now consider more closely the connection between Plato's two subjects, love and discourse. Plato believed in the reality of absolute truth ; that absolute truth lies ready to be bom in every soul; that the truth may be ^brought to 137 p. 138birth in the soul by pure reflection (dialectic); and that the chief end of man is in this way to find the truth for himself and then induce others to do likewise. Since these things are so, I must not regard the truth and must not regard other souls with indifferent contemplation. 1 must love the truth with my whole soul, heart, strength and mind; otherwise 1 shall never by any process find it.
1 must in the truest sense love my neighbor as myself, for I must seek to bring about in my neighbor the same " birth of beauty '* which has come to myself. Now if I am in {his sense a lover of truth and a lover of men, what sort of discourse shall I employ in speaking to men ? Shall I go to those whom I passionately long to see born in the beauty of holiness, with a fine-feathered oration like that of Lysias ?
Shall I^o to those whom I see wandering blind and helpless for'^ck of insight into the truth, with quibbling disputations which show only that I have skill to prove either side of any question ? Shall I go to those who intend to teach others by speaking or writing, with sciences of how to do these things, whose elaborate and arbitrary learning is far from the real spirit of man and far from the spirit of truth ?
If I do any of these things I am traitor to the truth and to the souls of men. But if I really love the truth, and love to see men born into the truth, I will come to them with the purest light I have. I will seek to know not only what souls need, but what this soul needs. I will not stand at a distance. I will not trust to writing. I will face the man. I will sit beside him. As Socrates did with Phsedrus, I will first hear his say.
I will let him praise Lysias, if Lysias is his present love. 1 will myself praise Lysias so far as I truly can. I will join in his enthusiasms so far as they are good, — and the enthusiasms of youth have always something of good. But when we are together, he and I, in
No commentary for this page under the selected tracks.
There is commentary on page 1.