§313ΣΩ. καὶ ἐγὼ εἶπον μετὰ τοῦτο· τί οὖν;
And I said after this: "What then?
οἶσθα εἰς οἷόν τινα κίνδυνον ἔρχῃ ὑποθήσων τὴν ψυχήν;
Do you know into what kind of danger you are going to expose your soul?
ἢ εἰ μὲν τὸ σῶμα ἐπιτρέπειν σε ἔδει τῳ διακινδυνεύοντα ἢ χρηστὸν αὐτὸ γενέσθαι ἢ πονηρόν, πολλὰ ἂν περιεσκέψω εἴτʼ ἐπιτρεπτέον εἴτε οὔ, καὶ εἰς συμβουλὴν τούς τε φίλους ἂν παρεκάλεις καὶ τοὺς οἰκείους σκοπούμενος ἡμέρας συχνάς· ὃ δὲ περὶ πλείονος τοῦ σώματος ἡγῇ, τὴν ψυχήν, καὶ ἐν ᾧ πάντʼ ἐστὶν τὰ σὰ ἢ εὖ ἢ κακῶς πράττειν, χρηστοῦ ἢ πονηροῦ αὐτοῦ γενομένου, περὶ δὲ τούτου οὔτε τῷ πατρὶ οὔτε τῷ ἀδελφῷ ἐπεκοινώσω οὔτε ἡμῶν τῶν ἑταίρων οὐδενί, εἴτʼ ἐπιτρεπτέον εἴτε καὶ οὐ τῷ ἀφικομένῳ τούτῳ ξένῳ τὴν σὴν ψυχήν, ἀλλʼ ἑσπέρας ἀκούσας, ὡς φῄς, ὄρθριος ἥκων περὶ μὲν τούτου οὐδένα λόγον οὐδὲ συμβουλὴν ποιῇ, εἴτε χρὴ ἐπιτρέπειν σαυτὸν αὐτῷ εἴτε μή, ἕτοιμος δʼ εἶ ἀναλίσκειν τά τε σαυτοῦ καὶ τὰ τῶν φίλων χρήματα, ὡς ἤδη διεγνωκὼς ὅτι πάντως συνεστέον Πρωταγόρᾳ, ὃν οὔτε γιγνώσκεις, ὡς φῄς, οὔτε διείλεξαι οὐδεπώποτε, σοφιστὴν δʼ ὀνομάζεις, τὸν δὲ σοφιστὴν ὅτι ποτʼ ἔστιν φαίνῃ ἀγνοῶν, ᾧ μέλλεις σαυτὸν ἐπιτρέπειν; —καὶ ὃς ἀκούσας,
ἔοικεν,
ἔφη,
ὦ Σώκρατες, ἐξ ὧν σὺ λέγεις. —ἆρʼ οὖν, ὦ Ἱππόκρατες, ὁ σοφιστὴς τυγχάνει ὢν ἔμπορός τις ἢ κάπηλος τῶν ἀγωγίμων, ἀφʼ ὧν ψυχὴ τρέφεται;
Or, if indeed you had to entrust your body to someone, risking whether it would become good or bad, you would have looked into it many times, whether to entrust it or not, and you would have called in both your friends and relatives for advice, considering it for many days; but that which you hold of more value than the body, your soul, and on which all your affairs depend to turn out either well or badly, according as it becomes good or bad—about this you did not communicate either with your father or your brother or any of us your companions, whether or not you should entrust your soul to this stranger who has arrived; but having heard in the evening, as you say, and coming at dawn, you make no discussion or seek no advice about this, whether you ought to entrust yourself to him or not, but you are ready to spend both your own money and that of your friends, as if you had already decided that you must associate with Protagoras by all means—whom you neither know, as you say, nor have ever spoken with, but you call him a sophist, while you appear to be ignorant of what on earth a sophist is, to whom you are about to entrust yourself?" And when he heard this, he said, "It seems so, Socrates, from what you say." "Is then, Hippocrates, the sophist actually a merchant or a retailer of the wares by which the soul is nourished?
φαίνεται γὰρ ἔμοιγε τοιοῦτός τις. —
τρέφεται δέ, ὦ Σώκρατες, ψυχὴ τίνι; —μαθήμασιν δήπου, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ.
For to me at least he appears to be something of that kind." "But by what, Socrates, is the soul nourished?" "By teachings, surely," I said.
καὶ ὅπως γε μή, ὦ ἑταῖρε, ὁ σοφιστὴς ἐπαινῶν ἃ πωλεῖ ἐξαπατήσῃ ἡμᾶς, ὥσπερ οἱ περὶ τὴν τοῦ σώματος τροφήν, ὁ ἔμπορός τε καὶ κάπηλος.
"And take care, my friend, lest the sophist, in praising what he sells, deceive us, just like those who deal with the nourishment of the body, the merchant and the retailer.
καὶ γὰρ οὗτοί που ὧν ἄγουσιν ἀγωγίμων οὔτε αὐτοὶ ἴσασιν ὅτι χρηστὸν ἢ πονηρὸν περὶ τὸ σῶμα, ἐπαινοῦσιν δὲ πάντα πωλοῦντες, οὔτε οἱ ὠνούμενοι παρʼ αὐτῶν, ἐὰν μή τις τύχῃ γυμναστικὸς ἢ ἰατρὸς ὤν.
For these men, I suppose, of the wares they carry, neither themselves know what is good or bad for the body—yet they praise everything as they sell it—nor do those who buy from them, unless one happens to be a trainer or a physician.
οὕτω δὲ καὶ οἱ τὰ μαθήματα περιάγοντες κατὰ τὰς πόλεις καὶ πωλοῦντες καὶ καπηλεύοντες τῷ ἀεὶ ἐπιθυμοῦντι ἐπαινοῦσιν μὲν πάντα ἃ πωλοῦσιν, τάχα δʼ ἄν τινες, ὦ ἄριστε, καὶ τούτων ἀγνοοῖεν ὧν πωλοῦσιν ὅτι χρηστὸν ἢ πονηρὸν πρὸς τὴν ψυχήν· ὡς δʼ αὕτως καὶ οἱ ὠνούμενοι παρʼ αὐτῶν, ἐὰν μή τις τύχῃ περὶ τὴν ψυχὴν αὖ ἰατρικὸς ὤν.
In the same way, those who carry teachings around the cities, selling and retailing them to anyone who always desires them, praise everything they sell; and perhaps, my excellent friend, some of these too may be ignorant of which of their wares is good or bad for the soul; and in just the same way those who buy from them, unless one happens to be in his turn a physician concerning the soul.
εἰ μὲν οὖν σὺ τυγχάνεις ἐπιστήμων τούτων τί χρηστὸν καὶ πονηρόν, ἀσφαλές σοι ὠνεῖσθαι μαθήματα καὶ παρὰ Πρωταγόρου καὶ παρʼ ἄλλου ὁτουοῦν· εἰ δὲ μή, ὅρα, ὦ μακάριε, μὴ περὶ τοῖς φιλτάτοις κυβεύῃς τε καὶ κινδυνεύῃς.
If, therefore, you happen to be knowledgeable about which of these is good and bad, it is safe for you to buy teachings both from Protagoras and from anyone else; but if not, see to it, my dear friend, lest you play dice with and risk what is dearest to you."