§321ΣΩ. διʼ ὃ καὶ σύ, ὦ βέλτιστε, ἐὰν σωφρονῇς, εὐλαβήσῃ, καὶ ἄλλος πᾶς ἀνὴρ ὅτῳ μέλει τοῦ εὐδόκιμον εἶναι, μηδέποτε ἀπεχθάνεσθαι ἀνδρὶ ποιητικῷ μηδενί.
SOCRATES: For this very reason, my excellent friend, if you are wise, you will be careful, and so will every other man who cares about being of good repute, never to incur the hostility of any poetic man.
οἱ γὰρ ποιηταὶ μέγα δύνανται εἰς δόξαν, ἐφʼ ὁπότερα ἂν ποιῶσιν εἰς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, ἢ εὐλογοῦντες ἢ κακηγοροῦντες.
For poets have great power over reputation, in whichever direction they may fashion human beings, whether by praising or by speaking ill of them.
ὃ δὴ καὶ ἐξήμαρτεν ὁ Μίνως, πολεμήσας τῇδε τῇ πόλει, ἐν ᾗ ἄλλη τε πολλὴ σοφία ἐστὶ καὶ ποιηταὶ παντοδαποὶ τῆς τε ἄλλης ποιήσεως καὶ τραγῳδίας.
This is indeed the very error Minos committed in making war against this city, in which there is both much other wisdom and all kinds of poets, both of other poetry and of tragedy.
ἡ δὲ τραγῳδία ἐστὶν παλαιὸν ἐνθάδε, οὐχ ὡς οἴονται ἀπὸ Θέσπιδος ἀρξαμένη οὐδʼ ἀπὸ Φρυνίχου, ἀλλʼ εἰ θέλεις ἐννοῆσαι, πάνυ παλαιὸν αὐτὸ εὑρήσεις ὂν τῆσδε τῆς πόλεως εὕρημα.
And tragedy is an ancient thing here, not starting, as people think, from Thespis or Phrynichus, but if you care to reflect, you will find it is a very ancient invention of this city.
ἔστιν δὲ τῆς ποιήσεως δημοτερπέστατόν τε καὶ ψυχαγωγικώτατον ἡ τραγῳδία· ἐν ᾗ δὴ καὶ ἐντείνοντες ἡμεῖς τὸν Μίνων τιμωρούμεθα ἀνθʼ ὧν ἡμᾶς ἠνάγκασε τοὺς δασμοὺς τελεῖν ἐκείνους.
And tragedy is the most popular and soul-captivating form of poetry; in which indeed we, by putting Minos on the stage, take our revenge on him in return for his having forced us to pay those tributes.
τοῦτο οὖν ἐξήμαρτεν ὁ Μίνως, ἀπεχθόμενος ἡμῖν, ὅθεν δή, ὃ σὺ ἐρωτᾷς, κακοδοξότερος γέγονεν.
This, then, was the error Minos committed in making himself hated by us, whence indeed, as you ask, he has become of worse repute.
ἐπεὶ ὅτι γε ἀγαθὸς ἦν καὶ νόμιμος, ὅπερ καὶ ἐν τοῖς πρόσθεν ἐλέγομεν, νομεὺς ἀγαθός, τοῦτο μέγιστον σημεῖον, ὅτι ἀκίνητοι αὐτοῦ οἱ νόμοι εἰσίν, ἅτε τοῦ ὄντος περὶ πόλεως οἰκήσεως ἐξευρόντος εὖ τὴν ἀλήθειαν.
For that he was a good and law-abiding man, and a good shepherd as we were saying before, this is the greatest proof, that his laws are unaltered, inasmuch as he discovered well the truth of reality concerning the administration of a city.
ΕΤ. δοκεῖς μοι, ὦ Σώκρατες, εἰκότα τὸν λόγον εἰρηκέναι.
COMPANION: You seem to me, Socrates, to have spoken a reasonable word.
ΣΩ. οὐκοῦν εἰ ἐγὼ ἀληθῆ λέγω, δοκοῦσί σοι παλαιοτάτοις Κρῆτες οἱ Μίνω καὶ Ῥαδαμάνθυος πολῖται νόμοις χρῆσθαι;
SOCRATES: Therefore, if I speak the truth, do the Cretes, the citizens of Minos and Rhadamanthys, seem to you to use the oldest laws?
ΕΤ. φαίνονται.
COMPANION: They do.
ΣΩ. οὗτοι ἄρα τῶν παλαιῶν ἄριστοι νομοθέται γεγόνασιν, νομῆς τε καὶ ποιμένες ἀνδρῶν, ὥσπερ καὶ Ὅμηρος ἔφη ποιμένα λαῶν εἶναι τὸν ἀγαθὸν στρατηγόν.
SOCRATES: These, then, of the ancients, have become the best lawgivers, distributors and shepherds of men, just as Homer also said that the good general is the shepherd of the people.
ΕΤ. πάνυ μὲν οὖν.
COMPANION: Absolutely.
ΣΩ. φέρε δὴ πρὸς Διὸς φιλίου· εἴ τις ἡμᾶς ἔροιτο, ὁ τῷ σώματι ἀγαθὸς νομοθέτης τε καὶ νομεὺς τί ἐστιν ταῦτα ἃ διανέμων ἐπὶ τὸ σῶμα βέλτιον αὐτὸ ποιεῖ, εἴποιμεν ἂν καλῶς τε καὶ διὰ βραχέων ἀποκρινόμενοι, ὅτι τροφήν τε καὶ πόνους, τῇ μὲν αὔξων, τοῖς δὲ γυμνάζων καὶ συνιστὰς τὸ σῶμα αὐτό.
SOCRATES: Come then, by Zeus the protector of friendship; if someone were to ask us: "What are those things which the good lawgiver and shepherd for the body distributes to the body to make it better?" we would say, answering well and briefly, that they are nourishment and labors, by the former increasing, and by the latter exercising and strengthening the body itself.
ΕΤ. ὀρθῶς γε.
COMPANION: Correctly.
ΣΩ. εἰ οὖν δὴ μετὰ τοῦτο ἔροιτο ἡμᾶς,
τί δὲ δή ποτε ἐκεῖνά ἐστιν, ἃ ὁ ἀγαθὸς νομοθέτης τε καὶ νομεὺς διανέμων ἐπὶ τὴν ψυχὴν βελτίω αὐτὴν ποιεῖ; τί ἂν ἀποκρινάμενοι οὐκ ἂν αἰσχυνθεῖμεν καὶ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν αὐτῶν καὶ τῆς ἡλικίας αὑτῶν;
SOCRATES: If, then, after this he should ask us: "And what on earth are those things which the good lawgiver and shepherd distributes to the soul to make it better?" what answer could we give that would not make us ashamed both of ourselves and of our age?
ΕΤ. οὐκέτι τοῦτʼ ἔχω εἰπεῖν.
COMPANION: I can no longer say this.
ΣΩ. ἀλλὰ μέντοι αἰσχρόν γε τῇ ψυχῇ ἡμῶν ἐστιν ἑκατέρου, τὰ μὲν ἐν αὐταῖς φαίνεσθαι μὴ εἰδυίας, ἐν οἷς αὐταῖς ἔνεστι καὶ τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὸ φλαῦρον, τὰ δὲ τοῦ σώματος καὶ τὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἐσκέφθαι.
SOCRATES: But indeed, it is shameful for the soul of each of us, that while our souls appear not to know those things within them, in which both the good and the bad reside, we have nevertheless examined the things of the body and of other matters.