§100ΦΑΙΔ. ἴσως μὲν οὖν ᾧ εἰκάζω τρόπον τινὰ οὐκ ἔοικεν·
Socrates: Perhaps indeed the way I make the comparison is in a certain way not like the truth.
οὐ γὰρ πάνυ συγχωρῶ τὸν ἐν λόγοις σκοπούμενον τὰ ὄντα ἐν εἰκόσι μᾶλλον σκοπεῖν ἢ τὸν ἐν ἔργοις.
For I do not at all concede that he who examines things in arguments is examining them in images any more than he who examines them in deeds.
ἀλλ’ οὖν δὴ ταύτῃ γε ὥρμησα, καὶ ὑποθέμενος ἑκάστοτε λόγον ὃν ἂν κρίνω ἐρρωμενέστατον εἶναι, ἃ μὲν ἄν μοι δοκῇ τούτῳ συμφωνεῖν τίθημι ὡς ἀληθῆ ὄντα, καὶ περὶ αἰτίας καὶ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων, ἃ δ’ ἂν μή, ὡς οὐκ ἀληθῆ.
But at any rate, I started in this way, and having hypothesized on each occasion an argument which I judge to be strongest, whatever seems to me to agree with this I lay down as being true, both about cause and about all other things, and whatever does not, as not true.
βούλομαι δέ σοι σαφέστερον εἰπεῖν ἃ λέγω· οἶμαι γάρ σε νῦν οὐ μανθάνειν.
But I want to tell you more clearly what I mean; for I think you do not understand now.
οὐ μὰ τὸν Δία, ἔφη ὁ Κέβης, οὐ σφόδρα. ἀλλ᾽, ἦ δ’ ὅς, ὧδε λέγω, οὐδὲν καινόν, ἀλλ’ ἅπερ ἀεί τε ἄλλοτε καὶ ἐν τῷ παρεληλυθότι λόγῳ οὐδὲν πέπαυμαι λέγων.
"No, by Zeus," said Cebes, "not very well." "Well," he said, "this is what I mean, nothing new, but what I have never stopped saying both at other times and in our past discussion.
ἔρχομαι δὴ ἐπιχειρῶν σοι ἐπιδείξασθαι τῆς αἰτίας τὸ εἶδος ὃ πεπραγμάτευμαι, καὶ εἶμι πάλιν ἐπ᾽ ἐκεῖνα τὰ πολυθρύλητα καὶ ἄρχομαι ἀπ’ ἐκείνων, ὑποθέμενος εἶναί τι καλὸν αὐτὸ καθ’ αὑτὸ καὶ ἀγαθὸν καὶ μέγα καὶ τἆλλα πάντα·
Indeed, I am going to attempt to show you the kind of cause which I have busy with, and I will go back to those much-talked-of things and start from them, hypothesizing that there is something beautiful itself by itself, and good, and great, and all the rest.
ἃ εἴ μοι δίδως τε καὶ συγχωρεῖς εἶναι ταῦτα, ἐλπίζω σοι ἐκ τούτων τὴν αἰτίαν ἐπιδείξειν καὶ ἀνευρήσειν ὡς ἀθάνατον ψυχή. ἀλλὰ μήν, ἔφη ὁ Κέβης, ὡς διδόντος σοι οὐκ ἂν φθάνοις περαίνων. σκόπει δή, ἔφη, τὰ ἑξῆς ἐκείνοις ἐάν σοι συνδοκῇ ὥσπερ ἐμοί.
If you grant me these and agree that they exist, I hope from these to show you the cause and to discover that the soul is immortal." "Well then," said Cebes, "assuming that I grant you this, you cannot go on too quickly." "Consider then," he said, "the things next to those, if they seem to you as they do to me.
φαίνεται γάρ μοι, εἴ τί ἐστιν ἄλλο καλὸν πλὴν αὐτὸ τὸ καλόν, οὐδὲ δι’ ἓν ἄλλο καλὸν εἶναι ἢ διότι μετέχει ἐκείνου τοῦ καλοῦ· καὶ πάντα δὴ οὕτως λέγω.
For it seems to me that, if there is anything else beautiful besides the beautiful itself, it is beautiful for no other reason than because it participates in that beautiful; and so I speak of everything.
τῇ τοιᾷδε αἰτίᾳ συγχωρεῖς; συγχωρῶ, ἔφη.
Do you agree to such a cause?" "I agree," he said.
οὐ τοίνυν, ἦ δ’ ὅς, ἔτι μανθάνω οὐδὲ δύναμαι τὰς ἄλλας αἰτίας τὰς σοφὰς ταύτας γιγνώσκειν· ἀλλ’ ἐάν τίς μοι λέγῃ δι’ ὅτι καλόν ἐστιν ὁτιοῦν, ἢ χρῶμα εὐανθὲς ἔχον ἢ σχῆμα ἢ ἄλλο ὁτιοῦν τῶν τοιούτων, τὰ μὲν ἄλλα χαίρειν ἐῶ, — ταράττομαι γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις πᾶσι — τοῦτο δὲ ἁπλῶς καὶ ἀτέχνως καὶ ἴσως εὐήθως ἔχω παρ’ ἐμαυτῷ, ὅτι οὐκ ἄλλο τι ποιεῖ αὐτὸ καλὸν ἢ ἡ ἐκείνου τοῦ καλοῦ εἴτε παρουσία εἴτε κοινωνία εἴτε ὅπῃ δὴ καὶ ὅπως προσγενομένη·
"Then," he said, "I no longer understand nor can I recognize those other clever causes; but if anyone tells me why anything is beautiful, either because it has a blooming color or a shape or any other such thing, I let those other things go—for I am confused by all the others—and I hold to this simply and artlessly and perhaps foolishly in my own mind: that nothing else makes it beautiful than the presence or communion of that beautiful, or however and in whatever way it is added to it.
οὐ γὰρ ἔτι τοῦτο διισχυρίζομαι, ἀλλ’ ὅτι τῷ καλῷ πάντα τὰ καλὰ καλά.
For I do not yet strongly insist on this, but only that by the beautiful all beautiful things are beautiful.
τοῦτο γάρ μοι δοκεῖ ἀσφαλέστατον εἶναι καὶ ἐμαυτῷ ἀποκρίνασθαι καὶ ἄλλῳ, καὶ τούτου ἐχόμενος ἡγοῦμαι οὐκ ἄν ποτε πεσεῖν, ἀλλ’ ἀσφαλὲς εἶναι καὶ ἐμοὶ καὶ ὁτῳοῦν ἄλλῳ ἀποκρίνασθαι ὅτι τῷ καλῷ τὰ καλὰ καλά·
For this seems to me to be the safest answer to give both to myself and to another, and holding to this I think I shall never fall, but that it is safe for me and anyone else to answer that by the beautiful beautiful things are beautiful.
ἢ οὐ καὶ σοὶ δοκεῖ; δοκεῖ. καὶ μεγέθει ἄρα τὰ μεγάλα μεγάλα καὶ τὰ μείζω μείζω, καὶ σμικρότητι τὰ ἐλάττω ἐλάττω; ναί.
Or does it not seem so to you too?" "It seems so." "And by greatness, then, great things are great and greater things greater, and by smallness smaller things smaller?" "Yes."