Phaedrus

​SOCRATES: For indeed, Tisias, those who are wiser than we say that one who has understanding must not practice pleasing fellow slaves, except as a secondary task, but rather good masters and those born of good masters. Therefore, if the circuit is long, do not wonder; for it is for the sake of great things that we must go around, and not as you think. Yet, as the argument says, if one is willing, these things too will become most beautiful as a result of those. PHAEDRUS: It seems to me, Socrates, to be very beautifully said, if indeed one were able to do it. SOCRATES: But to one who attempts beautiful things, it is also beautiful to suffer whatever it may happen to him to suffer. PHAEDRUS: Very much so. SOCRATES: Let this, then, suffice concerning art and lack of art in speeches. PHAEDRUS: Of course. SOCRATES: But as for the propriety and impropriety of writing, in what way it is done well and in what way improperly, this remains. Is it not so? PHAEDRUS: Yes. SOCRATES: Do you know then how you might best please God in acting or speaking concerning speeches? PHAEDRUS: Not at all; do you? SOCRATES: I have at least a hearsay from those before us to tell, but they themselves know the truth. If we should find this ourselves, would we still care at all for human opinions? PHAEDRUS: You ask a ridiculous question; but tell what you say you have heard. SOCRATES: I heard, then, that in the region of Naucratis in Egypt, there was one of the ancient gods of that place, to whom also the bird called the Ibis was sacred; and the name of this divinity was Theuth. They say that he first discovered number and calculation, geometry and astronomy, and further, draughts and dice, and above all, letters. Now at that time Thamus was king of all Egypt, living in the great city of the upper region which the Greeks call Egyptian Thebes, and they call its god Ammon. Theuth came to him and showed him his arts, and said they ought to be distributed to the other Egyptians. Thamus asked what benefit each possessed, and as Theuth went through them, he blamed some and praised others, according as he thought they were well or ill spoken of. Now Thamus is said to have declared many things to Theuth on both sides concerning each art, which it would be a long story to run through; but when he came to letters, “This study, O King,” said Theuth, “will make the Egyptians wiser and improve their memory; for a medicine for memory and wisdom has been found.”

​SOCRATES: But the other replied: “O most ingenious Theuth, one man is able to give birth to the things of art, but another to judge what share of harm and benefit they possess for those who are going to use them. And now, you, being the father of letters, have out of goodwill said the opposite of what they can do. For this will provide forgetfulness in the souls of those who learn it through neglect of memory, inasmuch as, trusting in writing, they will remember from without by means of foreign marks, not from within by themselves. You have found, then, a medicine not for memory, but for reminding. And you provide your disciples with the reputation of wisdom, not the truth; for having become hearers of many things without instruction, they will seem to be wise in many things while being for the most part ignorant, and they will be difficult to get along with, having become wise in opinion instead of wise.” PHAEDRUS: O Socrates, you easily make up speeches about Egypt or any country you please. SOCRATES: But, my friend, those in the temple of Zeus at Dodona said that the first prophetic words came from an oak. To the men of that time, then, since they were not wise like you young people, it was enough in their simplicity to listen to an oak or a rock, if only they spoke the truth; but to you perhaps it makes a difference who the speaker is and from where he comes. For do you not look only at that, whether the matter is so or otherwise? PHAEDRUS: You have rightly rebuked me, and it seems to me to be concerning letters just as the Theban says. SOCRATES: Therefore, he who thinks he has left an art behind in writing, and again he who accepts it as if something clear and solid will result from letters, would be full of much simplicity, and in truth ignorant of the prophecy of Ammon, thinking that written words are something more than a reminder to the one who knows about the things written. PHAEDRUS: Most correctly. SOCRATES: For this, Phaedrus, is the strange thing about writing, and truly like painting. For its offspring stand as if alive, but if you ask them something, they keep a very solemn silence. And it is the same with speeches; you would think they speak as if they had some understanding, but if you ask about any of the things said, wishing to learn, they point to one and same thing always. And when it is once written, every speech rolls about everywhere, equally among those who understand it and likewise among those for whom it is not fitting, and it does not know to whom it ought to speak and to whom not. And when it is ill-treated and unjustly abused, it always needs its father to help; for it is unable to defend itself or help itself. PHAEDRUS: And this also you have said most correctly.