[279]
Socrates.
Isocrates is young yet, Phaedrus; 279a however, I am willing to say what I prophesy for him.Phaedrus.
What is it?Socrates.
I think he has a nature above the speeches of Lysias and possesses a nobler character; so that I should not be surprised if, as he grows older, he should so excel in his present studies that all who have ever treated of rhetoric shall seem less than children; and I suspect that these studies will not satisfy him, but a more divine impulse 279b will lead him to greater things; for my friend, something of philosophy is inborn in his mind. This is the message that I carry from these deities to my favorite Isocrates, and do you carry the other to Lysias, your favorite.Phaedrus.
It shall be done; but now let us go, since the heat has grown gentler.Socrates.
Is it not well to pray to the deities here before we go?Phaedrus.
Of course.Socrates.
O beloved Pan and all ye other gods of this place, grant to me that I be made beautiful in my soul within, and that all external possessions be in harmony with my inner man. May I consider 279c the wise man rich; and may I have such wealth as only the self-restrained man can bear or endure.—Do we need anything more, Phaedrus? For me that prayer is enough.Phaedrus.
Let me also share in this prayer; for friends have all things in common.Socrates.
Let us go.Phaedrus. Plato. Harold North Fowler (Translator), ed. Walter Rangeley Maitland Lamb. Cambridge, MA. 1914.
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