Phaedrus — Plato

PHiEDRUS 1 5 1 been the cause of others making an equal number of speeches. I would except Simmias^ the Theban, but all the rest are far behind you. And now I do verily believe that you have been the cause of another. Fhadr. That is good news. But what do you mean ? Soc.

I mean to say that as I was about to cross the stream the usual sign was given to me ; that is the sign which never bids but always forbids me to do what I am going to do ® ; and I thought that I heard a voice saying in my ear that I had been guilty of impiety, and that I must not go away until I had made an atonement.

Now I am a diviner, though not a very good one, but I have enough religion for my own needs, as you might say of a bad writer — ^his writing is good enough for him. And, O my friend, how singularly prophetic is the soul ! For at the time I had a sort of misgiving, and, like Ibycus,^ ** I was troubled,'* and I suspected that I might be receiving honor from men at the expense of sinning against the gods. Now I am aware of the error.

Phadr, What error ? Soc. That was a dreadful speech which you brought with you, and you made me utter one as bad. Phadr, How was that ? Soc, Foolish, I say, and in a degree impious ; and what can be more dreadful than this ? Phcedr, Nothing, if the speech was really such as you describe. Soc, Well, and is not Eros ** the son of Aphrodite ^ a mighty god ? Phcedr, That is the language of mankind about him. Soc.

But that was not the language of Lysias* speech any more than of that other speech uttered through my lips when under the influence of your enchantments, and which I may call yours and not mine. For Love, if he be a god or divine, cannot be evil. Yet this was the error of both our speeches.

There was also a solemnity about them which ^^ was truly charming ; they had no truth or honesty in them, and yet they pretended to be something, hoping to succeed in *' See Phaedo, note i. •• See Apology, 31 and 40. •• Ibycus (fb'^-cus) : a Greek lyric poet who wrote about 530 B. c. ** Eros (e^os) : the god of love. See Symposium, note 16. »• See Symposium, note xa.

p. 152deceiving the manikins of earth and be famous among them. And therefore I must have a purgation.

And now I bethink me of an ancient purgation of mythological error which was devised, not by Homer* for he never had the wit to discover why he was blind, but by Stesichorus,^ who was a philosopher and knew the reason why ; and, therefore, when he lost his eyes, for that was the penalty which was inflicted upon him for reviling the lovely Helen, he purged himself.

And the purgation was a recantation, which began with the words : — '*That was a lie of mine when I said that thou never embarkedst on the swift ships, or wentest to the walls of Troy. And when he had completed his poem, which is called ** the recantation,'* immediately his sight returned to him.

Now I will be wiser than either Stesichorus or Homer, in that I am going to make a recantation before I lose mine ; and this I will attempt, not as before, veiled and ashamed, but with forehead bold and bare. Fhadr, There is nothing which I should like better to hear. Soc. Only think, my good Phaedrus, what an utter want of delicacy was shown in the two discourses; I mean, in my own and in the one which you recited out of the book.

Would not any one who was himself of a noble and gentle nature, and who loved or ever had loved a nature like his own, when he heard us speaking of the petty causes of lovers' jealousies, and of their exceeding animosities, and the injuries which they do to their beloved, have imagined that our ideas of love were taken from some haunt of sailors to which good manners were unknown — he would certainly never have admitted the justice of our censure ?

Fhcedr, Certainly not. Soc, Therefore, because I blush at the thought of this person, and also because I am afraid of the god Love, I desire to wash down that gall and vinegar with a wholesome draught ; and I would counsel Lysias not to delay, but to write another •• See Apology, note 39. According to tradition Homer was a wandering minstrel, poor and blind " Stesichorus (ste-sQc'c-rus, 632-552 B.C.): a celebrated Greek poet of Sicily.

There is a fable of his being miraculously struck blind after writing an attack upon Helen (see Apology, note ai), and recovering his sight after ke composed a recantation.

PHiEDRUS 153 discourse, which shall prove other things being equal that the lover ought to be accepted rather than the non-lover. Phcedr, Be assured that he shall. You shall speak the praises of the lover, and Lysias shall be made to write them in another discourse. I will compel him to do this. Soc, You will be true to your nature in that, and therefore I believe you. Fhcedr, Speak, and fear not.

Soc, But where is the fair youth whom I was addressing, and who ought to listen, in order that he may not be misled by one side before he has heard the other ? FhcBdr, He is close at hand, and always at your service. [The second discourse of Socrates is a serious attempt ^^^" on his part to make clear what he regards as the truth ^ about love in its highest form.

He begins — ** That was a lie in which I said that the beloved ought to accept the non-lover and reject the lover, because the one is sane and the other mad.

For that might have been truly said if madness were simply an evil ; but there is also a madness which is the special gift of heaven and the source of the chiefest blessings among men. * * This divine madness is of four kinds — the gift of prophecy, religious ecstasy in which the soul is purified from sin, poetical inspiration, and lastly the madness of love.] I might tell of many other noble deeds which have sprung from inspired madness.

And therefore, let no one frighten or flutter us by saying that temperate love is preferable to mad love, but let him further show, if he would carry off the palm, that love is not sent by the gods for any good to lover or beloved. And we, on our part, will prove in answer to him that the madness of love is the greatest of Heaven's blessings, and the proof shall be one which the wise will receive, and the witling disbelieve.

And, first of all, let us inquire what is the truth about the affections and actions of the soul, divine as well as human. And thus we begin our proof: — [The soul is immortal because it is the source of all motion both in itself and in all other things.]