§398ΣΩ. λέγει τοίνυν περὶ αὐτοῦ—
"
αὐτὰρ ἐπειδὴ τοῦτο γένος κατὰ μοῖρʼ ἐκάλυψεν,
"
"
οἱ μὲν δαίμονες ἁγνοὶ ὑποχθόνιοι καλέονται,
ἐσθλοί, ἀλεξίκακοι, φύλακες θνητῶν ἀνθρώπων. "
ΕΡΜ. τί οὖν δή;
SOCRATES: Well, he says about it: "But after this race was covered by fate," "They are called holy spirits under the earth, Noble, warders of harm, guardians of mortal men." HERMOGENES: What then does he mean?
ΣΩ. ὅτι οἶμαι ἐγὼ λέγειν αὐτὸν τὸ χρυσοῦν γένος οὐκ ἐκ χρυσοῦ πεφυκὸς ἀλλʼ ἀγαθόν τε καὶ καλόν.
SOCRATES: That, I think, he says the golden race was brought forth not from gold, but was good and beautiful.
τεκμήριον δέ μοί ἐστιν ὅτι καὶ ἡμᾶς φησιν σιδηροῦν εἶναι γένος.
And my evidence is that he says we are an iron race.
ΕΡΜ. ἀληθῆ λέγεις.
HERMOGENES: You speak the truth.
ΣΩ. οὐκοῦν καὶ τῶν νῦν οἴει ἂν φάναι αὐτὸν εἴ τις ἀγαθός ἐστιν ἐκείνου τοῦ χρυσοῦ γένους εἶναι;
SOCRATES: Do you not think, then, that of those now living, if anyone is good, he would say that person belongs to that golden race?
ΕΡΜ. εἰκός γε.
HERMOGENES: That is likely.
ΣΩ. οἱ δʼ ἀγαθοὶ ἄλλο τι ἢ φρόνιμοι;
SOCRATES: And are the good anything other than the wise?
ΕΡΜ. φρόνιμοι.
HERMOGENES: The wise.
ΣΩ. τοῦτο τοίνυν παντὸς μᾶλλον λέγει, ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ, τοὺς δαίμονας· ὅτι φρόνιμοι καὶ δαήμονες ἦσαν,
δαίμονας
αὐτοὺς ὠνόμασεν· καὶ ἔν γε τῇ ἀρχαίᾳ τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ φωνῇ αὐτὸ συμβαίνει τὸ ὄνομα.
SOCRATES: This, then, more than anything, is what he says of spirits, as it seems to me: because they were wise and knowing, he named them spirits; and in our ancient language, this very name coincides.
λέγει οὖν καλῶς καὶ οὗτος καὶ ἄλλοι ποιηταὶ πολλοὶ ὅσοι λέγουσιν ὡς, ἐπειδάν τις ἀγαθὸς ὢν τελευτήσῃ, μεγάλην μοῖραν καὶ τιμὴν ἔχει καὶ γίγνεται δαίμων κατὰ τὴν τῆς φρονήσεως ἐπωνυμίαν.
Therefore, he and many other poets speak well, whoever say that when a good man dies, he has a great destiny and honor, and becomes a spirit according to the name of wisdom.
ταύτῃ οὖν τίθεμαι καὶ ἐγὼ πάντʼ ἄνδρα ὃς ἂν ἀγαθὸς ᾖ, δαιμόνιον εἶναι καὶ ζῶντα καὶ τελευτήσαντα, καὶ ὀρθῶς
δαίμονα
καλεῖσθαι.
In this way, then, I too assert that every man who is good is spiritual both while living and when dead, and is correctly called a spirit.
ΕΡΜ. καὶ ἐγώ μοι δοκῶ, ὦ Σώκρατες, τούτου πάνυ σοι σύμψηφος εἶναι.
HERMOGENES: I think, Socrates, that I am entirely in agreement with you on this.
ὁ δὲ δὴ
ἥρως
τί ἂν εἴη;
But then, what could "hero" be?
ΣΩ. τοῦτο δὲ οὐ πάνυ χαλεπὸν ἐννοῆσαι.
SOCRATES: This is not very difficult to understand.
σμικρὸν γὰρ παρῆκται αὐτῶν τὸ ὄνομα, δηλοῦν τὴν ἐκ τοῦ ἔρωτος γένεσιν.
For their name has been slightly inflected, to show their birth from love.
ΕΡΜ. πῶς λέγεις;
HERMOGENES: How do you mean?
ΣΩ. οὐκ οἶσθα ὅτι ἡμίθεοι οἱ ἥρωες;
SOCRATES: Do you not know that the heroes are demigods?
ΕΡΜ. τί οὖν;
HERMOGENES: What of it?
ΣΩ. πάντες δήπου γεγόνασιν ἐρασθέντος ἢ θεοῦ θνητῆς ἢ θνητοῦ θεᾶς.
SOCRATES: All of them, surely, were born because either a god loved a mortal woman, or a mortal man loved a goddess.
ἐὰν οὖν σκοπῇς καὶ τοῦτο κατὰ τὴν Ἀττικὴν τὴν παλαιὰν φωνήν, μᾶλλον εἴσῃ· δηλώσει γάρ σοι ὅτι παρὰ τὸ τοῦ ἔρωτος ὄνομα, ὅθεν γεγόνασιν οἱ ἥρωες, σμικρὸν παρηγμένον ἐστὶν ὀνόματος χάριν.
If, then, you investigate this also according to the ancient Attic speech, you will know better; for it will show you that it has been slightly inflected from the name of love, from which the heroes were born, for the sake of the name.
καὶ ἤτοι τοῦτο λέγει τοὺς ἥρωας, ἢ ὅτι σοφοὶ ἦσαν καὶ ῥήτορες δεινοὶ καὶ διαλεκτικοί, ἐρωτᾶν ἱκανοὶ ὄντες· τὸ γὰρ
εἴρειν
λέγειν ἐστίν.
And either this is what "heroes" means, or that they were wise and clever rhetoricians and dialecticians, being capable of asking questions; for "to speak" is to talk.
ὅπερ οὖν ἄρτι λέγομεν, ἐν τῇ Ἀττικῇ φωνῇ λεγόμενοι οἱ ἥρωες ῥήτορές τινες καὶ ἐρωτητικοὶ συμβαίνουσιν, ὥστε ῥητόρων καὶ σοφιστῶν γένος γίγνεται τὸ ἡρωικὸν φῦλον.
Therefore, as we were just saying, when spoken in the Attic dialect, the heroes turn out to be certain rhetoricians and questioners, so that the heroic race becomes a breed of rhetoricians and sophists.
ἀλλὰ οὐ τοῦτο χαλεπόν ἐστιν ἐννοῆσαι, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, διὰ τί ποτε
ἄνθρωποι
καλοῦνται· ἢ σὺ ἔχεις εἰπεῖν;
But this is not difficult to understand, but rather that of men, why indeed they are called "men"; or can you tell?
ΕΡΜ. πόθεν, ὠγαθέ, ἔχω;
HERMOGENES: How could I, my good friend?
οὐδʼ εἴ τι οἷός τʼ ἂν εἴην εὑρεῖν, οὐ συντείνω διὰ τὸ ἡγεῖσθαι σὲ μᾶλλον εὑρήσειν ἢ ἐμαυτόν.
Even if I were able to find anything, I would not exert myself because I believe that you will find it rather than I.