§153ἥκομεν τῇ προτεραίᾳ ἑσπέρας ἐκ Ποτειδαίας ἀπὸ τοῦ στρατοπέδου, οἷον δὲ διὰ χρόνου ἀφιγμένος ἁσμένως ᾖα ἐπὶ τὰς συνήθεις διατριβάς.
We returned yesterday evening from the camp at Potidaea, and having arrived after a long absence, I gladly went to my accustomed haunts.
καὶ δὴ καὶ εἰς τὴν Ταυρέου παλαίστραν τὴν καταντικρὺ τοῦ τῆς Βασίλης ἱεροῦ εἰσῆλθον, καὶ αὐτόθι κατέλαβον πάνυ πολλούς, τοὺς μὲν καὶ ἀγνῶτας ἐμοί, τοὺς δὲ πλείστους γνωρίμους.
And indeed I entered the palæstra of Taureas, which is opposite the temple of Basile, and there I found a very great number of people, some indeed unknown to me, but most of them acquaintances.
καί με ὡς εἶδον εἰσιόντα ἐξ ἀπροσδοκήτου, εὐθὺς πόρρωθεν ἠσπάζοντο ἄλλος ἄλλοθεν· Χαιρεφῶν δέ, ἅτε καὶ μανικὸς ὤν, ἀναπηδήσας ἐκ μέσων ἔθει πρός με, καί μου λαβόμενος τῆς χειρός, ὦ Σώκρατες, ἦ δʼ ὅς, πῶς ἐσώθης ἐκ τῆς μάχης; Ὀλίγον δὲ πρὶν ἡμᾶς ἀπιέναι μάχη ἐγεγόνει ἐν τῇ Ποτειδαίᾳ, ἣν ἄρτι ἦσαν οἱ τῇδε πεπυσμένοι.
And as soon as they saw me entering unexpectedly, they immediately greeted me from afar from all sides; and Chaerephon, because he is of a frantic nature, leaped up from the midst and ran to me, and taking me by the hand, said, "O Socrates, how did you escape from the battle?" For a battle had taken place at Potidaea a little before we left, of which those here had just heard.
καὶ ἐγὼ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀποκρινόμενος, Οὑτωσί, ἔφην, ὡς σὺ ὁρᾷς. καὶ μὴν ἤγγελταί γε δεῦρο, ἔφη, ἥ τε μάχη πάνυ ἰσχυρὰ γεγονέναι καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ πολλοὺς τῶν γνωρίμων τεθνάναι. καὶ ἐπιεικῶς, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, ἀληθῆ ἀπήγγελται. παρεγένου μέν, ἦ δʼ ὅς, τῇ μάχῃ;
And I, replying to him, said, "Just as you see." "And indeed it has been reported here," he said, "that the battle was very fierce and that many of our acquaintances died in it." "And indeed," I said, "what has been reported is pretty much true." "Were you present at the battle?" he said.
παρεγενόμην. δεῦρο δή, ἔφη, καθεζόμενος ἡμῖν διήγησαι· οὐ γάρ τί πω πάντα σαφῶς πεπύσμεθα. καὶ ἅμα με καθίζει ἄγων παρὰ Κριτίαν τὸν Καλλαίσχρου.
"I was present." "Sit down here then," he said, "and tell us; for we have not yet heard everything clearly." And at the same time, leading me, he made me sit down beside Critias, the son of Callaeschrus.
παρακαθεζόμενος οὖν ἠσπαζόμην τόν τε Κριτίαν καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους, καὶ διηγούμην αὐτοῖς τὰ ἀπὸ στρατοπέδου, ὅτι μέ τις ἀνέροιτο· ἠρώτων δὲ ἄλλος ἄλλο.
So sitting down beside him, I greeted Critias and the others, and told them the news from the camp, according as anyone asked me; and they asked, one one thing, and another another.
ἐπειδὴ δὲ τῶν τοιούτων ἅδην εἴχομεν, αὖθις ἐγὼ αὐτοὺς ἀνηρώτων τὰ τῇδε, περὶ φιλοσοφίας ὅπως ἔχοι τὰ νῦν, περί τε τῶν νέων, εἴ τινες ἐν αὐτοῖς διαφέροντες ἢ σοφίᾳ ἢ κάλλει ἢ ἀμφοτέροις ἐγγεγονότες εἶεν.
But when we had enough of such matters, I in turn asked them about things here, how philosophy was doing now, and concerning the young men, whether any of them had turned out to be distinguished either in wisdom or in beauty or in both.
§154καὶ ὁ Κριτίας ἀποβλέψας πρὸς τὴν θύραν, ἰδών τινας νεανίσκους εἰσιόντας καὶ λοιδορουμένους ἀλλήλοις καὶ ἄλλον ὄχλον ὄπισθεν ἑπόμενον, περὶ μὲν τῶν καλῶν, ἔφη, ὦ Σώκρατες, αὐτίκα μοι δοκεῖς εἴσεσθαι· οὗτοι γὰρ τυγχάνουσιν οἱ εἰσιόντες πρόδρομοί τε καὶ ἐρασταὶ ὄντες τοῦ δοκοῦντος καλλίστου εἶναι τά γε δὴ νῦν, φαίνεται δέ μοι καὶ αὐτὸς ἐγγὺς ἤδη που εἶναι προσιών. ἔστιν δέ, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, τίς τε καὶ τοῦ; οἶσθά που σύ γε, ἔφη, ἀλλʼ οὔπω ἐν ἡλικίᾳ ἦν πρίν σε ἀπιέναι, Χαρμίδην τὸν τοῦ Γλαύκωνος τοῦ ἡμετέρου θείου ὑόν, ἐμὸν δὲ ἀνεψιόν. οἶδα μέντοι νὴ Δία, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ· οὐ γάρ τι φαῦλος οὐδὲ τότε ἦν ἔτι παῖς ὤν, νῦν δʼ οἶμαί που εὖ μάλα ἂν ἤδη μειράκιον εἴη. αὐτίκα, ἔφη, εἴσῃ καὶ ἡλίκος καὶ οἷος γέγονεν. καὶ ἅμα ταῦτʼ αὐτοῦ λέγοντος ὁ Χαρμίδης εἰσέρχεται.
And Critias, looking toward the door, seeing some young men coming in and bantering one another, and another crowd following behind, said, "Concerning the beautiful ones, Socrates, I think you will know immediately; for these who are entering happen to be the precursors and lovers of the one who is thought to be the most beautiful at the present time, and it seems to me that he himself is already somewhere near, approaching." "And who is he," I said, "and whose son?" "You surely know him," he said, "but he was not yet of age before you went away: Charmides, the son of Glaucon, our uncle, and my cousin." "I know him indeed, by Zeus," I said; "for he was by no means ordinary even then when he was still a child, and now I suppose he would already be a very fine young man." "Immediately," he said, "you shall know both how tall and of what sort he has become." And as he was saying this, Charmides entered.
ἐμοὶ μὲν οὖν, ὦ ἑταῖρε, οὐδὲν σταθμητόν· ἀτεχνῶς γὰρ λευκὴ στάθμη εἰμὶ πρὸς τοὺς καλούς—σχεδὸν γάρ τί μοι πάντες οἱ ἐν τῇ ἡλικίᾳ καλοὶ φαίνονται—ἀτὰρ οὖν δὴ καὶ τότε ἐκεῖνος ἐμοὶ θαυμαστὸς ἐφάνη τό τε μέγεθος καὶ τὸ κάλλος, οἱ δὲ δὴ ἄλλοι πάντες ἐρᾶν ἔμοιγε ἐδόκουν αὐτοῦ— οὕτως ἐκπεπληγμένοι τε καὶ τεθορυβημένοι ἦσαν, ἡνίκʼ εἰσῄει—πολλοὶ δὲ δὴ ἄλλοι ἐρασταὶ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ὄπισθεν εἵποντο.
Now for my part, my friend, I have no standard of measure; for I am absolutely a white chalk-line with respect to beautiful people—for almost all who are of that age seem beautiful to me—but nevertheless, even then he appeared wonderful to me both in stature and in beauty, and all the others seemed to me to be in love with him—so amazed and confused were they when he entered—and many other lovers followed in his train behind.
καὶ τὸ μὲν ἡμέτερον τὸ τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἧττον θαυμαστὸν ἦν· ἀλλʼ ἐγὼ καὶ τοῖς παισὶ προσέσχον τὸν νοῦν, ὡς οὐδεὶς ἄλλοσʼ ἔβλεπεν αὐτῶν, οὐδʼ ὅστις σμικρότατος ἦν, ἀλλὰ πάντες ὥσπερ ἄγαλμα ἐθεῶντο αὐτόν.
And our case, that of the men, was less wonderful; but I turned my attention also to the boys, and noticed that not one of them looked elsewhere, not even the smallest child, but all gazed at him as if he were a statue.
καὶ ὁ Χαιρεφῶν καλέσας με, τί σοι φαίνεται ὁ νεανίσκος, ἔφη, ὦ Σώκρατες;
And Chaerephon, calling me, said, "How does the young man appear to you, Socrates?
οὐκ εὐπρόσωπος; ὑπερφυῶς, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ.
Is he not fair of face?" "Exceedingly so," I said.
οὗτος μέντοι, ἔφη, εἰ ἐθέλοι ἀποδῦναι, δόξει σοι ἀπρόσωπος εἶναι· οὕτως τὸ εἶδος πάγκαλός ἐστιν. συνέφασαν οὖν καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι ταὐτὰ ταῦτα τῷ Χαιρεφῶντι· κἀγώ, Ἡράκλεις, ἔφην, ὡς ἄμαχον λέγετε τὸν ἄνδρα, εἰ ἔτι αὐτῷ ἓν δὴ μόνον τυγχάνει προσὸν σμικρόν τι. τί; ἔφη ὁ Κριτίας.
"Yet," he said, "if he should be willing to strip, he will seem to you to be faceless; so beautiful is his form in every way." The others also agreed in this same thing with Chaerephon; and I said, "Heracles! what an invincible man you describe, if only one other small thing happens to belong to him." "What is that?" said Critias.
εἰ τὴν ψυχήν, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, τυγχάνει εὖ πεφυκώς.
"If he happens," I said, "to be well-born in his soul.
πρέπει δέ που, ὦ Κριτία, τοιοῦτον αὐτὸν εἶναι τῆς γε ὑμετέρας ὄντα οἰκίας. ἀλλʼ, ἔφη, πάνυ καλὸς καὶ ἀγαθός ἐστιν καὶ ταῦτα. τί οὖν, ἔφην, οὐκ ἀπεδύσαμεν αὐτοῦ αὐτὸ τοῦτο καὶ ἐθεασάμεθα πρότερον τοῦ εἴδους;
And it is fitting, Critias, that he should be so, since he is of your house." "Indeed," he said, "he is very beautiful and good in this respect also." "Why then," I said, "do we not strip this very part of him and behold it before his form?
πάντως γάρ που τηλικοῦτος ὢν ἤδη ἐθέλει διαλέγεσθαι.
For surely, being of such an age, he is already willing to converse."