§325εὐγνωμοσύνης.
fairness.
ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ ἐφαινόμην οὐδʼ ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἀναγκαίοις ἀποτόμως τῷ λόγῳ χρώμενος, ἀλλὰ πεφεισμένως καὶ σχηματιζόμενος τὰ πρέποντα, ὁ δʼ ἀνδρὶ τῶν κατʼ αὐτὸν ἐνδοξοτάτῳ οὕτω ῥᾳδίως ἀμαθίαν ἐγκέκληκε, καὶ ταῦτα ἀκούοντος μειρακίου ἐπιτηδείου καταφρονῆσαι καὶ ὁτουοῦν, καὶ ᾧ θεῖός τε καὶ ἐπίτροπος καὶ ἀντὶ τοῦ πατρὸς ἂν ἦν.
For I, on the one hand, appeared not to be using language harshly even in necessary matters, but sparingly and shaping what is fitting; but he, on the other hand, has thus easily charged with ignorance a man most famous among those of his time, and that too while a youth was listening who was of an age to look down upon anyone, and to whom he was an uncle, a guardian, and would have been in place of a father.
ὥστʼ ἐγὼ μὲν οὐδὲ ψέγω οὐδʼ ἐξελέγξω, δέδοικα δὲ μή τις ἐμοῦ γοργότερον βλέπων φῇ συνῳδὰ ταῦτα εἶναι ταῖς αἰτίαις ἃς Σωκράτης εἶχεν, ὡς ἀναπείθων τοὺς νέους τῶν πρεσβυτέρων καταφρονεῖν.
And so, while I neither blame nor shall refute him, I fear lest someone with a sharper eye than mine might say that these things are in harmony with the charges Socrates faced, as persuading the young to look down upon their elders.
καὶ ἐὰν δὴ λέγω ὅτι Περικλέα φασὶ καὶ τὰ ἴδια οὐδὲν ἀτιμότερον βιῶναι Σωκράτους σεμνότητος ἕνεκα κἀν ταῖς στρατείαις ταῖς κοιναῖς λυσιτελέστερον εἶναι Σωκράτους συμπαρόντα, ἐὰν ταῦτα λέγω, φήσεις με ῥητορεύειν.
And if indeed I say that they say Pericles lived his private life in no way less honorably than Socrates for the sake of dignity, and was more useful in common campaigns with Socrates present, if I say these things, you will say I am playing the rhetorician.
οὐκοῦν ταῦτα ἐῶ σὴν χάριν.
Therefore, I let these things go for your sake.
ἀλλὰ τοσοῦτον δέομαι πυθέσθαι, ποῦ ταῦτα ἀναγκαῖον ἐγκαταμῖξαι τοῖς διαλόγοις;
But I desire to ask only this much: where was it necessary to mix these things into the dialogues?
οὐ γὰρ ἄν μοι θαυμαστὸν εἴη εἰ μηδεὶς ἔχοι δεῖξαι.
For it would not be a wonder to me if no one could show it.
τεκμαίρομαι δʼ ἑνὶ μικρῷ.
And I infer this from one small proof.
εἰ γάρ τις ἅπαν τοῦτο ἐξέλοι, ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ τοῦ
πέπονθας δὲ οὐ σὺ μόνος τοῦτο, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ πολλοὶ τῶν πραττόντων τὰ τῆσδε τῆς πόλεως
ἢ καὶ ἔτι ἀπʼ ἐκείνου
διὸ καὶ ᾁττεις ἄρα πρὸς τὰ πολιτικὰ πρὶν παιδευθῆναι
μέχρι τοῦ
ἀλλὰ μὰ Δίʼ οὐκ ἔχω,
εἰ τοῦτό τις ἐξέλοι, τί χείρων ὁ λόγος γίγνεται, ἢ τί ἧττον προτρέπει τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην, ἐὰν οὕτω τὸ συνεχὲς ᾖ
ἀμαθίᾳ γὰρ συνοικεῖς, ὦ βέλτιστε, τῇ ἐσχάτῃ, ὡς ὁ λόγος σοῦ κατηγορεῖ καὶ σὺ σαυτοῦ.
For if someone should take out this whole passage, beginning from: "And you are not the only one who has experienced this, but also the majority of those who manage the affairs of this city," or even further back from: "Therefore, you rush into politics before being educated," up to: "But by Zeus, I cannot," if someone should take this out, how does the argument become worse, or how does it any less exhort Alcibiades, if the continuation should be thus: "For you live with the extreme ignorance, my excellent friend, as your argument accuses you and you yourself accuse yourself.
εἶεν.
Well then.
τί οὖν διανοεῖ περὶ σεαυτοῦ;
What do you intend concerning yourself?
πότερον ἐᾶν ὡς νῦν ἔχεις, ἢ ἐπιμέλειάν τινα ποιεῖσθαι; τί χείρων ἐγίγνετο ὁ λόγος, εἰ ταῦτα οὑτωσί πως εἶχεν;
Whether to leave yourself as you are now, or to make some care?" How was the argument becoming worse, if these things were in some such way?
ἐγὼ μὲν οὐχ ὁρῶ.
I for my part do not see.
εἰ γὰρ τῶν ἄλλων τισὶ τῶν πολλῶν ἐβούλετο ἐπιτιμῆσαι προτροπῆς ἕνεκα τοῦ μειρακίου, ἐξῆν ὅπερ εἴρηκα ποιῆσαι.
For if he wished to censure some of the many others for the sake of the youth's exhortation, it was possible to do what I have said.
διείλεκται γάρ που καὶ περὶ τούτων ἰδίᾳ, ὡς οὐ χρὴ πρὸς τὸν δεῖνα ὁρᾶν αὐτὸν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τοὺς ἀληθινοὺς ἀνταγωνιστάς.
For he has spoken somewhere also about these things privately, that he ought not to look to so-and-so, but to the true competitors.
οὐκοῦν δεινὸν, εἰ Πλάτων μὲν §326κωμῳδεῖ Περικλέα μηδεμιᾶς ἀνάγκης οὔσης, ἡμῖν δὲ μηδὲ τοσοῦτον εἰπεῖν ἄνευ μέμψεως ἐξέσται ὡς ἀπεδήμησε Πλάτων εἰς Σικελίαν.
Is it not then strange, if Plato mocks Pericles when there is no necessity, but we shall not be allowed to say even this much without blame, that Plato went abroad to Sicily?
καίτοι τί τοῦτο αἰσχυνόμεθα οἱ φιλοῦντες ἐκεῖνον;
And yet, why do we who love him feel ashamed of this?
Παρμενίδης τοίνυν ἔστιν αὐτῷ σύγγραμμα θεῖον.
Again, Parmenides is a divine composition of his.
τί οὖν πρὸς τὸ ἓν καὶ πολλὰ καὶ τὰς πολλὰς ταύτας στροφὰς τὸ γενέσθαι Ζήνωνα παιδικὰ Παρμενίδου;
What then, in relation to the One and the Many and these many turnings, does Zeno's becoming the favorite of Parmenides contribute?
ποῦ τοῦτο ἀναγκαῖον ἦν προφέρειν ἀνδρὶ τηλικούτῳ;
Where was it necessary to bring this forward to a man of such age?
ἀλλʼ ὅμως εἴρηκε κόσμου τινὸς ἕνεκα τῶν λόγων.
But nevertheless, he has said it for the sake of some ornament of the arguments.
ἀλλὰ νὴ Δία ὡς Ὅμηρον μύρῳ χρίσας ἐκπέμπει χελιδόνος τιμὴν καταθεὶς, οὕτως ἡμεῖς Πλάτωνα ἐκπέμπειν ἐκ τῶν πόλεων ἐκελεύομεν ἢ μετʼ ἀδείας τοσαύτης κακῶς αὐτὸν εἰρήκαμεν;
But by Zeus, as he sent Homer away, having anointed him with myrrh and placed upon him the honor of a swallow, did we thus bid Plato to be sent away from the cities, or have we spoken ill of him with such great impunity?
ἢ τούτους πάλιν αὖ τοὺς Γοργιείους λόγους παραιτούμεθα μὴ δυσχεραίνειν ἐὰν διαγράφωμεν, ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνος βούλεται τὸν Ὅμηρον διαγράφειν, ὡσπερεί τις ἑλλανοδίκης πρὸς ἐπῶν κρίσιν ᾑρημένος;
Or do we, in turn, beg that these arguments in the Gorgias not be disliked if we cross them out, just as he wishes to cross out Homer, as if some Hellanodikes chosen for the judgment of epic verses?
ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἑταίρους τοῦ Πλάτωνος κωμῳδοῦμεν ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνος τοὺς Ὁμήρου, καὶ ταῦτα μέντοι πρὸς θεῶν τί τοῦ λόγου προσαναγκάζοντος αὐτόν;
But do we mock the companions of Plato as he did those of Homer, and this too, by the gods, with what necessity of the argument compelling him?
οὐ γὰρ ἔγωγε ἐπινοῶ.
For I at least do not conceive it.
οὐκ ἂν οἱ φύλακες καθʼ αὑτοὺς ᾤκουν, εἰ μὴ κακῶς Ὅμηρος ἤκουσεν;
Would not the guardians have dwelt by themselves, if Homer had not been ill spoken of?
ἀλλὰ γυναῖκες κοιναὶ ταῦτα ἐπηνάγκαζον;
Or did common women compel these things?
ἀλλʼ ἡ χιλιέτης πορεία χεῖρον ἂν εἴρητο αὐτῷ, εἰ μὴ Κρεόφυλος ἤκουσε κακῶς;
Or would the thousand-year journey have been worse told by him, if Creophylus had not been ill spoken of?
ἀλλὰ τί τοῦτο ἐβούλετο αὐτῷ κωμῳδεῖν Ὅμηρον διὰ κενῆς;
But why did he wish this, to mock Homer in vain?
καὶ μὴν οὐδὲ αὐτό γε τοῦτο παρῃτήσατο εἰς τοσοῦτον οὔτε ἀρχόμενος τῶν πρὸς αὐτὸν λόγων, ὥσπερ ἡμεῖς πολλὰ παρῃτησάμεθα, οὔτε ἐν τοῖς ὕστερον, ἀλλʼ ἓν γὰρ τοῦτʼ εἶπε βραχὺ, ὡς οὐ πρό γε τῆς ἀληθείας τιμητέος ἁνήρ.
And indeed, he did not even beg off this very thing to such an extent, neither when beginning the arguments to him, as we begged off many things, nor in those later, but he said this one brief thing, that the man must not be honored before the truth.
ἡ δὲ ἀλήθεια οὐκ ἐπηνάγκαζε Κρεόφυλον ἄγειν εἰς λόγον.
But the truth did not compel him to bring Creophylus into the argument.
ἢ Πλάτωνι μὲν καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ὀνομάτων ἐξέσται διασύρειν οὓς βούλεται καὶ διὰ τούτων ἑτέρους πάλιν, ἡμῖν δὲ οὐδὲ ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων τῶν ἐκείνου τοὺς ἐκείνου λόγους ἐλέγχειν ἐξέσται;
Or shall it be allowed to Plato even from names to slander whomsoever he wishes, and through these others in turn, but to us it shall not be allowed to refute his arguments even from his own works?
καὶ τὸ μὲν δὴ περὶ τῶν ἐπῶν ἀφῶμεν αὐτῷ
And indeed let us dismiss for him the matter concerning the epic verses