§383ΕΡΜ. βούλει οὖν καὶ Σωκράτει τῷδε ἀνακοινωσώμεθα τὸν λόγον;
HERMOGENES: Shall we then communicate this argument to Socrates here as well?
ΚΡ. εἴ σοι δοκεῖ.
CRATYLUS: If it seems good to you.
ΕΡΜ. Κρατύλος φησὶν ὅδε, ὦ Σώκρατες, ὀνόματος ὀρθότητα εἶναι ἑκάστῳ τῶν ὄντων φύσει πεφυκυῖαν, καὶ οὐ τοῦτο εἶναι ὄνομα ὃ ἄν τινες συνθέμενοι καλεῖν καλῶσι, τῆς αὑτῶν φωνῆς μόριον ἐπιφθεγγόμενοι, ἀλλὰ ὀρθότητά τινα τῶν ὀνομάτων πεφυκέναι καὶ Ἕλλησι καὶ βαρβάροις τὴν αὐτὴν ἅπασιν.
HERMOGENES: This Cratylus here, Socrates, says that there is a correctness of name naturally belonging to each of the things that are, and that this is not a name which some people by agreement call it, uttering a piece of their own voice, but that a certain correctness of names belongs to them by nature, the same for both Greeks and barbarians, for all alike.
ἐρωτῶ οὖν αὐτὸν ἐγὼ εἰ αὐτῷ Κρατύλος τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ὄνομα· ὁ δὲ ὁμολογεῖ.
I ask him then whether Cratylus is in truth his name, and he admits it.
τί δὲ Σωκράτει; ἔφην.
"And what about Socrates?" I said.
Σωκράτης,
ἦ δʼ ὅς.
"Socrates," said he.
οὐκοῦν καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀνθρώποις πᾶσιν, ὅπερ καλοῦμεν ὄνομα ἕκαστον, τοῦτό ἐστιν ἑκάστῳ ὄνομα; ὁ δέ,
οὔκουν σοί γε,
ἦ δʼ ὅς,
ὄνομα Ἑρμογένης, οὐδὲ ἂν πάντες καλῶσιν ἄνθρωποι. §384ΕΡΜ. καὶ ἐμοῦ ἐρωτῶντος καὶ προθυμουμένου εἰδέναι ὅτι ποτὲ λέγει, οὔτε ἀποσαφεῖ οὐδὲν εἰρωνεύεταί τε πρός με, προσποιούμενός τι αὐτὸς ἐν ἑαυτῷ διανοεῖσθαι ὡς εἰδὼς περὶ αὐτοῦ, ὃ εἰ βούλοιτο σαφῶς εἰπεῖν, ποιήσειεν ἂν καὶ ἐμὲ ὁμολογεῖν καὶ λέγειν ἅπερ αὐτὸς λέγει.
"Then is it also the case for all other men that whatever name we call each one, this is his name?" And he said, "Well, not for you at least," said he, "is the name Hermogenes, not even if all men should call you so." HERMOGENES: And when I ask and am eager to know what on earth he means, he makes nothing clear and dissembles with me, pretending to have something in mind himself, as one who knows about it, which if he wished to state clearly, he could make me also agree and say just what he says.
εἰ οὖν πῃ ἔχεις συμβαλεῖν τὴν Κρατύλου μαντείαν, ἡδέως ἂν ἀκούσαιμι· μᾶλλον δὲ αὐτῷ σοι ὅπῃ δοκεῖ περὶ ὀνομάτων ὀρθότητος ἔτι ἂν ἥδιον πυθοίμην, εἴ σοι βουλομένῳ.
If therefore you have any way to interpret Cratylus' oracle, I would gladly hear it; or rather, I would even more gladly learn from you yourself how it seems to you concerning the correctness of names, if you are willing.
ΣΩ. ὦ παῖ Ἱππονίκου Ἑρμόγενες, παλαιὰ παροιμία ὅτι χαλεπὰ τὰ καλά ἐστιν ὅπῃ ἔχει μαθεῖν· καὶ δὴ καὶ τὸ περὶ τῶν ὀνομάτων οὐ σμικρὸν τυγχάνει ὂν μάθημα.
SOCRATES: Hermogenes, son of Hipponicus, there is an old proverb that beautiful things are hard to learn how they are; and indeed, the learning concerning names is no small matter.
εἰ μὲν οὖν ἐγὼ ἤδη ἠκηκόη παρὰ Προδίκου τὴν πεντηκοντάδραχμον ἐπίδειξιν, ἣν ἀκούσαντι ὑπάρχει περὶ τοῦτο πεπαιδεῦσθαι, ὥς φησιν ἐκεῖνος, οὐδὲν ἂν ἐκώλυέν σε αὐτίκα μάλα εἰδέναι τὴν ἀλήθειαν περὶ ὀνομάτων ὀρθότητος· νῦν δὲ οὐκ ἀκήκοα, ἀλλὰ τὴν δραχμιαίαν.
If I had already heard from Prodicus his fifty-drachma exhibition, which, when one has heard it, enables him to be fully educated on this subject, as he says, nothing would prevent you from knowing the truth about the correctness of names this very moment; but as it is, I have not heard it, but only the one-drachma one.
οὔκουν οἶδα πῇ ποτε τὸ ἀληθὲς ἔχει περὶ τῶν τοιούτων· συζητεῖν μέντοι ἕτοιμός εἰμι καὶ σοὶ καὶ Κρατύλῳ κοινῇ.
Therefore I do not know how the truth stands about such things; however, I am ready to search together with you and Cratylus in common.
ὅτι δὲ οὔ φησί σοι Ἑρμογένη ὄνομα εἶναι τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, ὥσπερ ὑποπτεύω αὐτὸν σκώπτειν· οἴεται γὰρ ἴσως σε χρημάτων ἐφιέμενον κτήσεως ἀποτυγχάνειν ἑκάστοτε.
But as for his saying that Hermogenes is not your name in truth, I suspect he is joking; for he probably thinks that you, though desiring the acquisition of wealth, fail to get it every time.
ἀλλʼ, ὃ νυνδὴ ἔλεγον, εἰδέναι μὲν τὰ τοιαῦτα χαλεπόν, εἰς τὸ κοινὸν δὲ καταθέντας χρὴ σκοπεῖν εἴτε ὡς σὺ λέγεις ἔχει εἴτε ὡς Κρατύλος.
But, as I was just saying, to know such things is difficult, but we must lay them in common and examine whether it is as you say or as Cratylus says.
ΕΡΜ. καὶ μὴν ἔγωγε, ὦ Σώκρατες, πολλάκις δὴ καὶ τούτῳ διαλεχθεὶς καὶ ἄλλοις πολλοῖς, οὐ δύναμαι πεισθῆναι ὡς ἄλλη τις ὀρθότης ὀνόματος ἢ συνθήκη καὶ ὁμολογία.
HERMOGENES: Indeed, Socrates, though I have often disputed both with him and with many others, I cannot be persuaded that there is any other correctness of name than agreement and convention.
ἐμοὶ γὰρ δοκεῖ ὅτι ἄν τίς τῳ θῆται ὄνομα, τοῦτο εἶναι τὸ ὀρθόν· καὶ ἂν αὖθίς γε ἕτερον μεταθῆται, ἐκεῖνο δὲ μηκέτι καλῇ, οὐδὲν ἧττον τὸ ὕστερον ὀρθῶς ἔχειν τοῦ προτέρου, ὥσπερ τοῖς οἰκέταις ἡμεῖς μετατιθέμεθα· οὐ γὰρ φύσει ἑκάστῳ πεφυκέναι ὄνομα οὐδὲν οὐδενί, ἀλλὰ νόμῳ καὶ ἔθει τῶν ἐθισάντων τε καὶ καλούντων.
For it seems to me that whatever name anyone gives to something, this is the correct one; and if again he changes it to another, and no longer calls it by the first, the latter is no less correct than the former, just as we change the names of our domestic servants; for no name belongs by nature to any thing naturally, but by law and custom of those who established the custom and call them.
εἰ δέ πῃ ἄλλῃ ἔχει, ἕτοιμος ἔγωγε καὶ μανθάνειν καὶ ἀκούειν οὐ μόνον παρὰ Κρατύλου, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρʼ ἄλλου ὁτουοῦν.
But if it is in any other way, I am ready both to learn and to hear not only from Cratylus but also from anyone else.