§282ΣΩ. ἔτι τοίνυν, ἔφην, τὸ λοιπὸν ἐπισκεψώμεθα.
SOCRATES: "Furthermore, then," I said, "let us examine what remains.
ἐπειδὴ εὐδαίμονες μὲν εἶναι προθυμούμεθα πάντες, ἐφάνημεν δὲ τοιοῦτοι γιγνόμενοι ἐκ τοῦ χρῆσθαί τε τοῖς πράγμασιν καὶ ὀρθῶς χρῆσθαι, τὴν δὲ ὀρθότητα καὶ εὐτυχίαν ἐπιστήμη ἦν ἡ παρέχουσα, δεῖ δή, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἐκ παντὸς τρόπου ἅπαντα ἄνδρα τοῦτο παρασκευάζεσθαι, ὅπως ὡς σοφώτατος ἔσται·
Since we all desire to be happy, and we appeared to become so from using things and using them rightly, and it was knowledge that provided rightness and good fortune, it is necessary, as it seems, for every man in every way to prepare himself for this, so that he will be as wise as possible.
ἢ οὔ; —
ναί,
ἔφη. —καὶ παρὰ πατρός γε δήπου τοῦτο οἰόμενον δεῖν παραλαμβάνειν πολὺ μᾶλλον ἢ χρήματα, καὶ παρʼ ἐπιτρόπων καὶ φίλων τῶν τε ἄλλων καὶ τῶν φασκόντων ἐραστῶν εἶναι, καὶ ξένων καὶ πολιτῶν, δεόμενον καὶ ἱκετεύοντα σοφίας μεταδιδόναι, οὐδὲν αἰσχρόν, ὦ Κλεινία, οὐδὲ νεμεσητὸν ἕνεκα τούτου ὑπηρετεῖν καὶ δουλεύειν καὶ ἐραστῇ καὶ παντὶ ἀνθρώπῳ, ὁτιοῦν ἐθέλοντα ὑπηρετεῖν τῶν καλῶν ὑπηρετημάτων, προθυμούμενον σοφὸν γενέσθαι·
Or not?" — "Yes," he said. — "And surely one must think it necessary to receive this from one's father much more than money, and from guardians and friends, both others and those who claim to be lovers, both strangers and citizens, begging and entreating them to share wisdom; and Clinias, there is nothing disgraceful or resentable because of this, to serve and be a slave to a lover and to any man, being willing to perform any of the fine services, out of eagerness to become wise.
ἢ οὐ δοκεῖ σοι, ἔφην ἐγώ, οὕτως; —
πάνυ μὲν οὖν εὖ μοι δοκεῖς λέγειν,
ἦ δʼ ὅς. —εἰ ἔστι γε, ὦ Κλεινία, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, ἡ σοφία διδακτόν, ἀλλὰ μὴ ἀπὸ ταὐτομάτου παραγίγνεται τοῖς ἀνθρώποις· τοῦτο γὰρ ἡμῖν ἔτι ἄσκεπτον καὶ οὔπω διωμολογημένον ἐμοί τε καὶ σοί. —
ἀλλʼ ἔμοιγε,
ἔφη,
ὦ Σώκρατες, διδακτὸν εἶναι δοκεῖ. —καὶ ἐγὼ ἡσθεὶς εἶπον· ἦ καλῶς λέγεις, ὦ ἄριστε ἀνδρῶν, καὶ εὖ ἐποίησας ἀπαλλάξας με σκέψεως πολλῆς περὶ τούτου αὐτοῦ, πότερον διδακτὸν ἢ οὐ διδακτὸν ἡ σοφία.
Or does it not seem so to you?" I said. — "Indeed, you seem to me to speak very well," he said. — "If, Clinias," I said, "wisdom is indeed teachable, and does not come to men of its own accord; for this is still unexamined for us and not yet agreed upon by you and me." — "But to me, Socrates," he said, "it seems to be teachable." — And I, being pleased, said: "You speak well, most excellent of men, and you did well in freeing me from a long inquiry about this very matter, whether wisdom is teachable or not teachable.
νῦν οὖν ἐπειδή σοι καὶ διδακτὸν δοκεῖ καὶ μόνον τῶν ὄντων εὐδαίμονα καὶ εὐτυχῆ ποιεῖν τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἄλλο τι ἢ φαίης ἂν ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι φιλοσοφεῖν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν νῷ ἔχεις αὐτὸ ποιεῖν; —
πάνυ μὲν οὖν,
ἔφη,
ὦ Σώκρατες, ὡς οἷόν τε μάλιστα. κἀγὼ ταῦτα ἅσμενος ἀκούσας, τὸ μὲν ἐμόν, ἔφην, παράδειγμα, ὦ Διονυσόδωρέ τε καὶ Εὐθύδημε, οἵων ἐπιθυμῶ τῶν προτρεπτικῶν λόγων εἶναι, τοιοῦτον, ἰδιωτικὸν ἴσως καὶ μόλις διὰ μακρῶν λεγόμενον· σφῷν δὲ ὁπότερος βούλεται, ταὐτὸν τοῦτο τέχνῃ πράττων ἐπιδειξάτω ἡμῖν.
Now, therefore, since it seems to you both teachable and the only thing among existing things that makes a man happy and fortunate, is it anything other than that you would say it is necessary to philosophize, and do you yourself intend to do this?" — "Certainly, Socrates," he said, "as much as possible." — And I, hearing this gladly, said: "My own exemplar, Dionysodorus and Euthydemus, of the kind of protreptic discourses I wish for, is of such a sort, perhaps amateurish and spoken with difficulty at great length; but whichever of you two wishes, performing this same thing with art, let him demonstrate it to us.
εἰ δὲ μὴ τοῦτο βούλεσθον, ὅθεν ἐγὼ ἀπέλιπον, τὸ ἑξῆς ἐπιδείξατον τῷ μειρακίῳ, πότερον πᾶσαν ἐπιστήμην δεῖ αὐτὸν κτᾶσθαι, ἢ ἔστι τις μία ἣν δεῖ λαβόντα εὐδαιμονεῖν τε καὶ ἀγαθὸν ἄνδρα εἶναι, καὶ τίς αὕτη.
Or if you do not wish this, show the youth what follows next from where I left off, whether he must acquire every kind of knowledge, or if there is some one knowledge which he must get to be happy and a good man, and what this is.
ὡς γὰρ ἔλεγον ἀρχόμενος, περὶ πολλοῦ ἡμῖν τυγχάνει ὂν τόνδε τὸν νεανίσκον σοφόν τε καὶ ἀγαθὸν γενέσθαι. §283ΣΩ. ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν ταῦτα εἶπον, ὦ Κρίτων· τῷ δὲ μετὰ τοῦτο ἐσομένῳ πάνυ σφόδρα προσεῖχον τὸν νοῦν, καὶ ἐπεσκόπουν τίνα ποτὲ τρόπον ἅψοιντο τοῦ λόγου καὶ ὁπόθεν ἄρξοιντο παρακελευόμενοι τῷ νεανίσκῳ σοφίαν τε καὶ ἀρετὴν ἀσκεῖν.
For as I said at the beginning, it happens to be of great importance to us that this young man should become wise and good." SOCRATES: I indeed said these things, Crito; and to what would happen after this I paid very close attention, and observed in what way they would lay hold of the argument, and from where they would begin to exhort the youth to practice wisdom and virtue.
ὁ οὖν πρεσβύτερος αὐτῶν, ὁ Διονυσόδωρος, πρότερος ἤρχετο τοῦ λόγου, καὶ ἡμεῖς πάντες ἐβλέπομεν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὡς αὐτίκα μάλα ἀκουσόμενοι θαυμασίους τινὰς λόγους.
The elder of them, Dionysodorus, began the discourse first, and we all looked towards him as if we were about to hear some wonderful arguments immediately.
ὅπερ οὖν καὶ συνέβη ἡμῖν· θαυμαστὸν γάρ τινα, ὦ Κρίτων, ἁνὴρ κατῆρχεν λόγον, οὗ σοὶ ἄξιον ἀκοῦσαι, ὡς παρακελευστικὸς ὁ λόγος ἦν ἐπʼ ἀρετήν.
And this is indeed what happened to us; for the man began a wonderful argument, Crito, well worth your hearing, as the discourse was exhortatory to virtue.
εἰπέ μοι,
ἔφη,
ὦ Σώκρατές τε καὶ ὑμεῖς οἱ ἄλλοι, ὅσοι φατὲ ἐπιθυμεῖν τόνδε τὸν νεανίσκον σοφὸν γενέσθαι, πότερον παίζετε ταῦτα λέγοντες ἢ ὡς ἀληθῶς ἐπιθυμεῖτε καὶ σπουδάζετε; κἀγὼ διενοήθην ὅτι ᾠηθήτην ἄρα ἡμᾶς τὸ πρότερον παίζειν, ἡνίκα ἐκελεύομεν διαλεχθῆναι τῷ νεανίσκῳ αὐτώ, καὶ διὰ ταῦτα προσεπαισάτην τε καὶ οὐκ ἐσπουδασάτην· ταῦτα οὖν διανοηθεὶς ἔτι μᾶλλον εἶπον ὅτι θαυμαστῶς σπουδάζοιμεν.
"Tell me," he said, "Socrates and you others, as many of you as say you desire this youth to become wise, are you playing in saying these things, or do you truly desire it and are in earnest?" And I realized that they thought we had been playing before, when we bade them converse with the youth, and for this reason they had played in turn and had not been in earnest; having realized this, I said all the more that we were wonderfully in earnest.
καὶ ὁ Διονυσόδωρος,
σκόπει μήν,
ἔφη,
ὦ Σώκρατες, ὅπως μὴ ἔξαρνος ἔσῃ ἃ νῦν λέγεις. —ἔσκεμμαι, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ· οὐ γὰρ μή ποτʼ ἔξαρνος γένωμαι. —
τί οὖν; ἔφη·
And Dionysodorus said: "Take care then, Socrates," he said, "that you do not deny what you are now saying." "I have considered it," I said; "for I shall never deny it." "What then?" he said.
φατὲ βούλεσθαι αὐτὸν σοφὸν γενέσθαι; —πάνυ μὲν οὖν. —
νῦν δέ,
ἦ δʼ ὅς,
Κλεινίας πότερον σοφός ἐστιν ἢ οὔ; —οὔκουν φησί γέ πω· ἔστιν δέ, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, οὐκ ἀλαζών. —
ὑμεῖς δέ,
ἔφη,
βούλεσθε γενέσθαι αὐτὸν σοφόν, ἀμαθῆ δὲ μὴ εἶναι; —ὡμολογοῦμεν.
"Do you say you want him to become wise?" "Certainly." "But now," he said, "is Clinias wise or not?" "He says he is not yet; but," I said, "he is not a boaster." "And you," he said, "want him to become wise, and not to be ignorant?" We agreed.
—
οὐκοῦν ὃς μὲν οὐκ ἔστιν, βούλεσθε αὐτὸν γενέσθαι, ὃς δʼ ἔστι νῦν, μηκέτι εἶναι. —καὶ ἐγὼ ἀκούσας ἐθορυβήθην· ὁ δέ μου θορυβουμένου ὑπολαβών,
ἄλλο τι οὖν,
ἔφη,
ἐπεὶ βούλεσθε αὐτὸν ὃς νῦν ἐστὶν μηκέτι εἶναι, βούλεσθε αὐτόν, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἀπολωλέναι;
"Therefore, what he is not, you want him to become, and what he is now, you want him to be no longer." And I, hearing this, was troubled; and he, taking me up while I was troubled, said: "Is it anything else then, since you want him to be no longer what he now is, you want him, as it seems, to be destroyed?
καίτοι πολλοῦ ἂν ἄξιοι οἱ τοιοῦτοι εἶεν φίλοι τε καὶ ἐρασταί, οἵτινες τὰ παιδικὰ περὶ παντὸς ἂν ποιήσαιντο ἐξολωλέναι. καὶ ὁ Κτήσιππος ἀκούσας ἠγανάκτησέν τε ὑπὲρ τῶν παιδικῶν καὶ εἶπεν· ὦ ξένε Θούριε, εἰ μὴ ἀγροικότερον,
ἔφη,
ἦν εἰπεῖν, εἶπον ἄν· σοὶ εἰς κεφαλήν,
ὅτι μαθών μου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων καταψεύδῃ τοιοῦτον πρᾶγμα, ὃ ἐγὼ οἶμαι οὐδʼ ὅσιον εἶναι λέγειν, ὡς ἐγὼ τόνδε βουλοίμην ἂν ἐξολωλέναι.
And yet of great value such friends and lovers would be, who would make it of utmost importance that their favorite should be utterly destroyed!" And Ctesippus, hearing this, was indignant on behalf of his favorite and said: "Stranger of Thurii, if it were not rather rude to say so, I would say: 'On your own head!' What possessed you to lie about me and the others in such a way—a thing which I think is not even holy to say—as that I should want him to be utterly destroyed?"