§319ΣΩ. ἐγὼ δή σοι ἐρῶ, ἵνα μὴ καὶ σὺ ὥσπερ οἱ πολλοὶ ἀσεβῇς.
SOCRATES: I will indeed tell you, so that you too do not commit impiety like the many.
οὐ γὰρ ἔσθʼ ὅτι τούτου ἀσεβέστερόν ἐστιν οὐδʼ ὅτι χρὴ μᾶλλον εὐλαβεῖσθαι, πλὴν εἰς θεοὺς καὶ λόγῳ καὶ ἔργῳ ἐξαμαρτάνειν, δεύτερον δὲ εἰς τοὺς θείους ἀνθρώπους· ἀλλὰ πάνυ πολλὴν χρὴ προμήθειαν ποιεῖσθαι ἀεί, ὅταν μέλλῃς ἄνδρα ψέξειν ἢ ἐπαινέσεσθαι, μὴ οὐκ ὀρθῶς εἴπῃς.
For there is nothing more impious than this, nor is there anything one must guard against more, except committing offenses against the gods both in word and deed, and secondly against divine men; but one must always take very great care, whenever one is about to censure or praise a man, not to speak incorrectly.
τούτου καὶ ἕνεκα χρὴ μανθάνειν διαγιγνώσκειν χρηστοὺς καὶ πονηροὺς ἄνδρας.
For this reason also, one must learn to distinguish good and bad men.
νεμεσᾷ γὰρ ὁ θεός, ὅταν τις ψέγῃ τὸν ἑαυτῷ ὅμοιον ἢ ἐπαινῇ τὸν ἑαυτῷ ἐναντίως ἔχοντα· ἔστι δʼ οὗτος ὁ ἀγαθός.
For the god is angered when someone censures one who is like himself, or praises one who is contrary to himself; and this latter is the good man.
μὴ γάρ τι οἴου λίθους μὲν εἶναι ἱεροὺς καὶ ξύλα καὶ ὄρνεα καὶ ὄφεις, ἀνθρώπους δὲ μή· ἀλλὰ πάντων τούτων ἱερώτατόν ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος ὁ ἀγαθός, καὶ μιαρώτατον ὁ πονηρός.
For do not think that stones are sacred, and woods, and birds, and snakes, but not human beings; on the contrary, of all these, the good human being is the most sacred, and the bad is the most defiling.
ἤδη οὖν καὶ περὶ Μίνω, ὡς αὐτὸν Ὅμηρός τε καὶ Ἡσίοδος ἐγκωμιάζουσι, τούτου ἕνεκα φράσω, ἵνα μὴ ἄνθρωπος ὢν ἀνθρώπου εἰς ἥρω Διὸς ὑὸν λόγῳ ἐξαμαρτάνῃς.
So now indeed concerning Minos also, how Homer and Hesiod eulogize him, I will explain for this reason, so that you, being a human, may not commit an offense in word against a hero who is a son of Zeus.
Ὅμηρος γὰρ περὶ Κρήτης λέγων ὅτι πολλοὶ ἄνθρωποι ἐν αὐτῇ εἰσιν καὶ ἐνενήκοντα πόληες, τῇσι δέ, φησίν—
"
ἔνι Κνωσὸς μεγάλη πόλις, ἔνθα τε Μίνως
ἐννέωρος βασίλευε Διὸς μεγάλου ὀαριστής. "
ἔστιν οὖν τοῦτο Ὁμήρου ἐγκώμιον εἰς Μίνων διὰ βραχέων εἰρημένον, οἷον οὐδʼ εἰς ἕνα τῶν ἡρώων ἐποίησεν Ὅμηρος.
For Homer, speaking about Crete, says that there are many men in it and ninety cities, and among these, he says— "Among them is Knossos, a great city, where Minos ruled for nine years, a companion of great Zeus." This, then, is Homer's praise for Minos, expressed in brief, such as Homer did not make for even one of the heroes.
ὅτι μὲν γὰρ ὁ Ζεὺς σοφιστής ἐστιν καὶ ἡ τέχνη αὕτη παγκάλη ἐστί, πολλαχοῦ καὶ ἄλλοθι δηλοῖ, ἀτὰρ καὶ ἐνταῦθα.
For that Zeus is a sophist and this art is altogether beautiful, he makes clear in many other places, but especially here.
λέγει γὰρ τὸν Μίνων συγγίγνεσθαι ἐνάτῳ ἔτει τῷ Διὶ ἐν λόγοις καὶ φοιτᾶν παιδευθησόμενον ὡς ὑπὸ σοφιστοῦ ὄντος τοῦ Διός.
For he says that Minos associated with Zeus in the ninth year in discourse and went to be educated, as though Zeus were a sophist.
ὅτι οὖν τοῦτο τὸ γέρας οὐκ ἔστιν ὅτῳ ἀπένειμεν Ὅμηρος τῶν ἡρώων, ὑπὸ Διὸς πεπαιδεῦσθαι, ἄλλῳ ἢ Μίνῳ, τοῦτʼ ἔστιν ἔπαινος θαυμαστός.
That Homer assigned this privilege, to be educated by Zeus, to no other of the heroes but to Minos, this is a marvelous praise.
καὶ Ὀδυσσείας ἐν Νεκυίᾳ δικάζοντα χρυσοῦν σκῆπτρον ἔχοντα πεποίηκε τὸν Μίνων, οὐ τὸν Ῥαδάμανθυν· Ῥαδάμανθυν δὲ οὔτʼ ἐνταῦθα δικάζοντα πεποίηκεν οὔτε συγγιγνόμενον τῷ Διὶ οὐδαμοῦ.
And in the Book of the Dead of the Odyssey, he has depicted Minos, not Rhadamanthys, administering justice holding a golden scepter; Rhadamanthys he has neither depicted administering justice there, nor associating with Zeus anywhere.
διὰ ταῦτά φημʼ ἐγὼ Μίνων ἁπάντων μάλιστα ὑπὸ Ὁμήρου ἐγκεκωμιάσθαι.
For these reasons I say that Minos has been praised by Homer most of all.
τὸ γὰρ Διὸς ὄντα παῖδα μόνον ὑπὸ Διὸς πεπαιδεῦσθαι οὐκ ἔχει ὑπερβολὴν ἐπαίνου—τοῦτο γὰρ σημαίνει τὸ ἔπος τὸ—
"
ἐννέωρος βασίλευε Διὸς μεγάλου ὀαριστής,
"
συνουσιαστὴν τοῦ Διὸς εἶναι τὸν Μίνων.
For, being a son of Zeus, to have been educated by Zeus alone has no excess of praise—for this is what the verse means: "ruled for nine years, a companion of great Zeus," that Minos was a conversational partner of Zeus.
οἱ γὰρ ὄαροι λόγοι εἰσίν, καὶ ὀαριστὴς συνουσιαστής ἐστιν ἐν λόγοις—ἐφοίτα οὖν διʼ ἐνάτου ἔτους εἰς τὸ τοῦ Διὸς ἄντρον ὁ Μίνως, τὰ μὲν μαθησόμενος, τὰ δὲ ἀποδειξόμενος ἃ τῇ προτέρᾳ ἐννεετηρίδι ἐμεμαθήκει παρὰ τοῦ Διός.
For "oaroi" are discourses, and "oaristēs" is a conversational partner in discourse—so Minos went every ninth year to the cave of Zeus, partly to learn, and partly to exhibit what he had learned from Zeus in the previous nine-year period.
§320ΣΩ. εἰσὶν δὲ οἳ ὑπολαμβάνουσι τὸν ὀαριστὴν συμπότην καὶ συμπαιστὴν εἶναι τοῦ Διός, ἀλλὰ τῷδε ἄν τις τεκμηρίῳ χρῷτο ὅτι οὐδὲν λέγουσιν οἱ οὕτως ὑπολαμβάνοντες· πολλῶν γὰρ ὄντων ἀνθρώπων καὶ Ἑλλήνων καὶ βαρβάρων, οὐκ ἔστιν οἵτινες ἀπέχονται συμποσίων καὶ ταύτης τῆς παιδιᾶς, οὗ ἔστιν οἶνος, ἄλλοι ἢ Κρῆτες καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι δεύτεροι, μαθόντες παρὰ Κρητῶν.
SOCRATES: There are, however, some who suppose that the "companion" is a drinking companion and a playmate of Zeus, but one might use this as evidence that those who so suppose say nothing of consequence; for though there are many human beings, both Greeks and barbarians, there are none who abstain from banquets and this sort of play, where there is wine, other than the Cretes, and the Lacedaemonians second, having learned from the Cretes.
ἐν Κρήτῃ δὲ εἷς οὗτός ἐστι τῶν ἄλλων νόμων οὓς Μίνως ἔθηκε, μὴ συμπίνειν ἀλλήλοις εἰς μέθην.
And in Crete, this is one of the other laws which Minos established, not to drink with one another to excess.
καίτοι δῆλον ὅτι ἃ ἐνόμιζεν καλὰ εἶναι, ταῦτα νόμιμα ἔθηκεν καὶ τοῖς αὑτοῦ πολίταις.
Yet it is clear that what he believed to be noble, these things he also established as lawful rules for his own citizens.
οὐ γάρ που, ὥσπερ γε φαῦλος ἄνθρωπος, ὁ Μίνως ἐνόμιζεν μὲν ἕτερα, ἐποίει δὲ ἄλλα παρʼ ἃ ἐνόμιζεν· ἀλλὰ ἦν αὕτη ἡ συνουσία ὥσπερ ἐγὼ λέγω, διὰ λόγων ἐπὶ παιδείᾳ εἰς ἀρετήν.
For surely Minos did not, like a base man, believe one thing but do other things contrary to what he believed; rather, this association was as I say, through discourse for education in virtue.
ὅθεν δὴ καὶ τοὺς νόμους τούτους ἔθηκε τοῖς αὑτοῦ πολίταις, διʼ οὓς ἥ τε Κρήτη τὸν πάντα χρόνον εὐδαιμονεῖ καὶ Λακεδαίμων, ἀφʼ οὗ ἤρξατο τούτοις χρῆσθαι, ἅτε θείοις οὖσιν.
Whence indeed he also established these laws for his own citizens, because of which both Crete has been happy for all time, and Lacedaemon from the time it began to use them, inasmuch as they are divine.
Ῥαδάμανθυς δὲ ἀγαθὸς μὲν ἦν ἀνήρ· ἐπεπαίδευτο γὰρ ὑπὸ τοῦ Μίνω.
And Rhadamanthys was a good man; for he had been educated by Minos.
ἐπεπαίδευτο μέντοι οὐχ ὅλην τὴν βασιλικὴν τέχνην, ἀλλʼ ὑπηρεσίαν τῇ βασιλικῇ, ὅσον ἐπιστατεῖν ἐν τοῖς δικαστηρίοις· ὅθεν καὶ δικαστὴς ἀγαθὸς ἐλέχθη εἶναι.
He had been educated, however, not in the whole of the royal art, but in a service to the royal art, enough to preside in the courts of law; whence also he was said to be a good judge.
νομοφύλακι γὰρ αὐτῷ ἐχρῆτο ὁ Μίνως κατὰ τὸ ἄστυ, τὰ δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἄλλην Κρήτην τῷ Τάλῳ.
For Minos used him as a guardian of the laws in the city, and Talos for those throughout the rest of Crete.
ὁ γὰρ Τάλως τρὶς περιῄει τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ κατὰ τὰς κώμας, φυλάττων τοὺς νόμους ἐν αὐταῖς, ἐν χαλκοῖς γραμματείοις ἔχων γεγραμμένους τοὺς νόμους, ὅθεν χαλκοῦς ἐκλήθη. εἴρηκε δὲ καὶ Ἡσίοδος ἀδελφὰ τούτων εἰς τὸν Μίνων.
For Talos went around three times a year through the villages, guarding the laws in them, having the laws written on bronze tablets, whence he was called "brazen." And Hesiod also has spoken words sister to these concerning Minos.
μνησθεὶς γὰρ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ὀνόματος φησίν—
"
ὃς βασιλεύτατος γένετο θνητῶν βασιλήων,
καὶ πλείστων ἤνασσε περικτιόνων ἀνθρώπων,
Ζηνὸς ἔχων σκῆπτρον· τῷ καὶ πολέων βασίλευεν. "
καὶ οὗτος λέγει τὸ τοῦ Διὸς σκῆπτρον οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ τὴν παιδείαν τὴν τοῦ Διός, ᾗ εὔθυνε τὴν Κρήτην.
For, mentioning his name, he says: "Who became the most royal of mortal kings, and ruled over the most surrounding men, holding the scepter of Zeus; with which he also ruled over many" And this poet also says that the scepter of Zeus is nothing other than the education of Zeus, with which he guided Crete.
ΕΤ. διὰ τί οὖν ποτε, ὦ Σώκρατες, αὕτη ἡ φήμη κατεσκέδασται τοῦ Μίνω ὡς ἀπαιδεύτου τινὸς καὶ χαλεποῦ ὄντος;
COMPANION: Why on earth, then, Socrates, has this rumor been spread about Minos, that he was some uneducated and harsh person?