§1Μένωνα τὸν Θετταλὸν οἰόμενον ἐν λόγοις ἱκανῶς γεγυμνάσθαι καὶ τοῦτο δὴ τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἐμπεδοκλέους λεγόμενον σοφίης ἐπʼ ἄκροισι θαμίζειν ἠρώτησεν ὁ Σωκράτης τί ἀρετή ἐστιν·
Socrates asked Meno the Thessalian, who thought himself to have been sufficiently trained in arguments and, indeed, to quote Empedocles, "to frequent the peaks of wisdom," what virtue is.
ἀποκριναμένου δʼ ἰταμῶς ἐκείνου καὶ προχείρως ὅτι καὶ παιδός ἐστιν ἀρετὴ καὶ πρεσβύτου καὶ ἀνδρὸς καὶ γυναικὸς καὶ ἄρχοντος καὶ ἰδιώτου καὶ δεσπότου καὶ θεράποντος,
εὖ γʼ
εἶπεν ὁ Σωκράτης,
ὅτι μίαν ἀρετὴν αἰτηθεὶς σμῆνος ἀρετῶν κεκίνηκας,
οὐ κακῶς τεκμαιρόμενος ὅτι μηδεμίαν εἰδὼς ἀρετὴν ἄνθρωπος πολλὰς ὠνόμαζεν.
When Meno answered boldly and readily that there is a virtue of a child, and of an old man, and of a man, and of a woman, and of a ruler, and of a private citizen, and of a master, and of a servant, Socrates said, "Excellent! Since, having been asked for one virtue, you have stirred up a swarm of virtues," conjecturing not badly that a man who knew not even one virtue was naming many.
ἆρʼ οὖν οὐχὶ καὶ ἡμῖν ἄν τις ἐπιχλευάσειεν ὅτι μηδέπω μίαν φιλίαν κεκτημένοι βεβαίως φοβούμεθα μὴ λάθωμεν εἰς πολυφιλίαν ἐμπεσόντες;
Might not someone, then, mock us too, because, though we have not yet securely acquired even one friendship, we fear lest we unwittingly fall into having many friends?
σχεδὸν γὰρ οὐδὲν διαφέρομεν ἀνθρώπου κολοβοῦ καὶ τυφλοῦ, φοβουμένου μὴ Βριάρεως ὁ ἑκατόγχειρ καὶ Ἄργος ὁ πανόπτης γένηται.
For we differ almost not at all from a maimed and blind man who fears lest he become Briareus of the hundred hands and Argus the all-seeing.
καίτοι τόν γε παρὰ τῷ Μενάνδρῳ νεανίσκον ὑπερφυῶς ἐπαινοῦμεν εἰπόντα θαυμαστὸν ὅσον νομίζειν ἀγαθὸν ἕκαστον, ἂν ἔχῃ φίλου σκιάν
And yet we exceedingly praise the youth in Menander's play who said that it is a marvelously great good for each person to believe they have even the shadow of a friend.
§2ἐναντίον δὲ μετὰ πολλῶν ἄλλων οὐχ ἥκιστα πρὸς φιλίας κτῆσιν ἡ τῆς πολυφιλίας ὄρεξις, ὥσπερ ἔρως ἀκολάστων γυναικῶν τῷ πολλάκις καὶ πολλοῖς συμπλέκεσθαι τῶν πρώτων κρατεῖν μὴ δυνάμενος ἀμελουμένων καὶ ἀπορρεόντων·
On the contrary, along with many other things, the desire for many friends is not least an obstacle to the acquisition of friendship, just as a passion for promiscuous women, by frequently engaging with many, is unable to retain the first ones as they are neglected and slip away.
μᾶλλον δʼ ὥσπερ ὁ τῆς Ὑψιπύλης τρόφιμος εἰς τὸν λειμῶνα καθίσας ἔδρεπεν
"
ἕτερον ἐφʼ ἑτέρῳ αἰρόμενος
ἄγρευμʼ ἀνθέων ἡδομένᾳ ψυχᾷ
τὸ νήπιον ἄπληστον ἔχων,
"
οὕτως ἕκαστον ἡμῶν διὰ τὸ φιλόκαινον καὶ ἁψίκορον ὁ πρόσφατος ἀεὶ καὶ ἀνθῶν ἐπάγεται, καὶ μετατίθησι πολλὰς ὁμοῦ καὶ ἀτελεῖς ἀρχὰς πράττοντας φιλίας καὶ συνηθείας, ἔρωτι τοῦ διωκομένου παρερχομένους τὸ καταλαμβανόμενον.
Or rather, just as Hypsipyle's nursling, sitting in the meadow, plucked, "gathering one after another, a catch of flowers with a delighted soul, having a childish insatiability," so each of us, through love of novelty and quickness to tire, is always attracted by the friend who is newly in bloom, and this shifts us as we make many simultaneous and incomplete beginnings of friendship and intimacy, bypassing what has been grasped in our passion for what is pursued.
πρῶτον μὲν οὖν ὥσπερ ἀφʼ ἑστίας ἀρξάμενοι τῆς τοῦ βίου φήμης ἣν ὑπὲρ φίλων βεβαίων ἀπολέλοιπεν ἡμῖν, τὸν μακρὸν καὶ παλαιὸν αἰῶνα μάρτυρα ἅμα τοῦ λόγου καὶ σύμβουλον λάβωμεν, ἐν ᾧ κατὰ ζεῦγος φιλίας λέγονται Θησεὺς καὶ Πειρίθους, Ἀχιλλεὺς καὶ Πάτροκλος, Ὀρέστης καὶ Πυλάδης, Φιντίας καὶ Δάμων, Ἐπαμεινώνδας καὶ Πελοπίδας· σύννομον γὰρ ἡ φιλία ζῷον οὐκ ἀγελαῖόν ἐστιν οὐδὲ κολοιῶδες, καὶ τὸ ἄλλον αὑτὸν ἡγεῖσθαι τὸν φίλον καὶ προσαγορεύειν ἑταῖρον ἕτερον οὐδέν ἐστιν ἢ μέτρῳ φιλίας τῇ δυάδι χρωμένων.
First of all, then, starting from the hearth, as it were, from the life-tradition which has been left to us concerning steadfast friends, let us take long and ancient time as both a witness and counselor of our argument, in which friendships are spoken of in pairs: Theseus and Pirithous, Achilles and Patroclus, Orestes and Pylades, Phintias and Damon, Epaminondas and Pelopidas; for friendship is a paired animal, not one that herds together or flocks like jackdaws, and to consider the friend "another self" and to address him as "another companion" is nothing other than using the dyad as the measure of friendship.
οὔτε γὰρ δούλους οὔτε φίλους ἔστι κτήσασθαι πολλοὺς ἀπʼ ὀλίγου νομίσματος.
For it is not possible to acquire either many slaves or many friends with little currency.
τί οὖν νόμισμα φιλίας;
What, then, is the currency of friendship?
εὔνοια καὶ χάρις μετʼ ἀρετῆς, ὧν οὐδὲν ἔχει σπανιώτερον ἡ φύσις.
Goodwill and favor accompanied by virtue, than which nature has nothing rarer.
ὅθεν τὸ σφόδρα φιλεῖν καὶ φιλεῖσθαι πρὸς πολλοὺς οὐκ ἔστιν, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ οἱ ποταμοὶ πολλὰς σχίσεις καὶ κατατομὰς λαμβάνοντες ἀσθενεῖς καὶ λεπτοὶ ῥέουσιν, οὕτω τὸ φιλεῖν ἐν ψυχῇ σφοδρὸν πεφυκὸς εἰς πολλοὺς μεριζόμενον ἐξαμαυροῦται.
Whence, loving and being loved intensely is not possible toward many; but just as rivers that receive many divisions and branches flow weak and thin, so love, being by nature intense in the soul, when divided among many is extinguished.
διὸ καὶ τῶν ζῴων τὸ φιλότεκνον τοῖς μονοτόκοις ἰσχυρότερον ἐμφύεται, καὶ Ὅμηρος· ἀγαπητὸν υἱὸν ὀνομάζει
μοῦνον τηλύγετον
τουτέστι τὸν τοῖς μήτʼ ἔχουσιν ἕτερον γονεῦσι μήθʼ ἕξουσι γεγενημένον.
Wherefore also among animals love for offspring is implanted more strongly in those that bear only one young, and Homer calls a beloved son "only and late-born," that is, one born to parents who have no other and will have no other.