Plato, Phaedrus, ed. John Burnet, 279

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[279]

ΣΩ.

νέος ἔτι, ὦ Φαῖδρε, Ἰσοκράτης· ὃ μέντοι μαντεύομαι 279a κατʼ αὐτοῦ, λέγειν ἐθέλω.

ΦΑΙ.

τὸ ποῖον δή;

ΣΩ.

δοκεῖ μοι ἀμείνων ἢ κατὰ τοὺς περὶ Λυσίαν εἶναι λόγους τὰ τῆς φύσεως, ἔτι τε ἤθει γεννικωτέρῳ κεκρᾶσθαι· ὥστε οὐδὲν ἂν γένοιτο θαυμαστὸν προϊούσης τῆς ἡλικίας εἰ περὶ αὐτούς τε τοὺς λόγους, οἷς νῦν ἐπιχειρεῖ, πλέον ἢ παίδων διενέγκοι τῶν πώποτε ἁψαμένων λόγων, ἔτι τε εἰ αὐτῷ μὴ ἀποχρήσαι ταῦτα, ἐπὶ μείζω δέ τις αὐτὸν ἄγοι ὁρμὴ θειοτέρα· φύσει γάρ, ὦ φίλε, ἔνεστί τις φιλοσοφία 279b τῇ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς διανοίᾳ. ταῦτα δὴ οὖν ἐγὼ μὲν παρὰ τῶνδε τῶν θεῶν ὡς ἐμοῖς παιδικοῖς Ἰσοκράτει ἐξαγγέλλω, σὺ δʼ ἐκεῖνα ὡς σοῖς Λυσίᾳ.

ΦΑΙ.

ταῦτʼ ἔσται· ἀλλὰ ἴωμεν, ἐπειδὴ καὶ τὸ πνῖγος ἠπιώτερον γέγονεν.

ΣΩ.

οὐκοῦν εὐξαμένῳ πρέπει τοῖσδε πορεύεσθαι;

ΦΑΙ.

τί μήν;

ΣΩ.

ὦ φίλε Πάν τε καὶ ἄλλοι ὅσοι τῇδε θεοί, δοίητέ μοι καλῷ γενέσθαι τἄνδοθεν· ἔξωθεν δὲ ὅσα ἔχω, τοῖς ἐντὸς 279c εἶναί μοι φίλια. πλούσιον δὲ νομίζοιμι τὸν σοφόν· τὸ δὲ χρυσοῦ πλῆθος εἴη μοι ὅσον μήτε φέρειν μήτε ἄγειν δύναιτο ἄλλος ἢ ὁ σώφρων.
ἔτʼ ἄλλου του δεόμεθα, ὦ Φαῖδρε; ἐμοὶ μὲν γὰρ μετρίως ηὖκται.

ΦΑΙ.

καὶ ἐμοὶ ταῦτα συνεύχου· κοινὰ γὰρ τὰ τῶν φίλων.

ΣΩ.

ἴωμεν.

Phaedrus. Plato. ed. John Burnet. Oxford. 1910.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Φαῖδρος (Greek) (Platonis Opera, Tomus II: Tetralogia III-IV. Burnet, John, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1910.)

Translations (1)

Phaedrus Perseus (Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 1. Fowler, Harold North, translator. Lamb, W.R.M, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.) — 279 focus

[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.

Plato Phaedrus 279

ed. John Burnet

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