tylercross/platos_dialgoues · Datasets at Hugging Face

Book stringclasses 25 values	Speaker stringlengths 3 11	Dialogue stringlengths 3 200k
cratylus	HERMOGENES	What do you say of pur (fire) and udor (water)?
cratylus	SOCRATES	I am at a loss how to explain pur; either the muse of Euthyphro has deserted me, or there is some very great difficulty in the word. Please, however, to note the contrivance which I adopt whenever I am in a difficulty of this sort.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	What is it?
cratylus	SOCRATES	I will tell you; but I should like to know first whether you can tell me what is the meaning of the pur?
cratylus	HERMOGENES	Indeed I cannot.
cratylus	SOCRATES	Shall I tell you what I suspect to be the true explanation of this and several other words?—My belief is that they are of foreign origin. For the Hellenes, especially those who were under the dominion of the barbarians, often borrowed from them.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	What is the inference?
cratylus	SOCRATES	Why, you know that any one who seeks to demonstrate the fitness of these names according to the Hellenic language, and not according to the language from which the words are derived, is rather likely to be at fault.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	Yes, certainly.
cratylus	SOCRATES	Well then, consider whether this pur is not foreign; for the word is not easily brought into relation with the Hellenic tongue, and the Phrygians may be observed to have the same word slightly changed, just as they have udor (water) and kunes (dogs), and many other words.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	That is true.
cratylus	SOCRATES	Any violent interpretations of the words should be avoided; for something to say about them may easily be found. And thus I get rid of pur and udor. Aer (air), Hermogenes, may be explained as the element which raises (airei) things from the earth, or as ever flowing (aei rei), or because the flux of the air is wind, and the poets call the winds “air-blasts,” (aetai); he who uses the term may mean, so to speak, air-flux (aetorroun), in the sense of wind-flux (pneumatorroun); and because this moving wind may be expressed by either term he employs the word air (aer = aetes rheo). Aither (aether) I should interpret as aeitheer; this may be correctly said, because this element is always running in a flux about the air (aei thei peri tou aera reon). The meaning of the word ge (earth) comes out better when in the form of gaia, for the earth may be truly called “mother” (gaia, genneteira), as in the language of Homer (Od.) gegaasi means gegennesthai.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	Good.
cratylus	SOCRATES	What shall we take next?
cratylus	HERMOGENES	There are orai (the seasons), and the two names of the year, eniautos and etos.
cratylus	SOCRATES	The orai should be spelt in the old Attic way, if you desire to know the probable truth about them; they are rightly called the orai because they divide (orizousin) the summers and winters and winds and the fruits of the earth. The words eniautos and etos appear to be the same,—“that which brings to light the plants and growths of the earth in their turn, and passes them in review within itself (en eauto exetazei)”: this is broken up into two words, eniautos from en eauto, and etos from etazei, just as the original name of Zeus was divided into Zena and Dia; and the whole proposition means that his power of reviewing from within is one, but has two names, two words etos and eniautos being thus formed out of a single proposition.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	Indeed, Socrates, you make surprising progress.
cratylus	SOCRATES	I am run away with.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	Very true.
cratylus	SOCRATES	But am not yet at my utmost speed.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	I should like very much to know, in the next place, how you would explain the virtues. What principle of correctness is there in those charming words—wisdom, understanding, justice, and the rest of them?
cratylus	SOCRATES	That is a tremendous class of names which you are disinterring; still, as I have put on the lion’s skin, I must not be faint of heart; and I suppose that I must consider the meaning of wisdom (phronesis) and understanding (sunesis), and judgment (gnome), and knowledge (episteme), and all those other charming words, as you call them?
cratylus	HERMOGENES	Surely, we must not leave off until we find out their meaning.
cratylus	SOCRATES	By the dog of Egypt I have a not bad notion which came into my head only this moment: I believe that the primeval givers of names were undoubtedly like too many of our modern philosophers, who, in their search after the nature of things, are always getting dizzy from constantly going round and round, and then they imagine that the world is going round and round and moving in all directions; and this appearance, which arises out of their own internal condition, they suppose to be a reality of nature; they think that there is nothing stable or permanent, but only flux and motion, and that the world is always full of every sort of motion and change. The consideration of the names which I mentioned has led me into making this reflection.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	How is that, Socrates?
cratylus	SOCRATES	Perhaps you did not observe that in the names which have been just cited, the motion or flux or generation of things is most surely indicated.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	No, indeed, I never thought of it.
cratylus	SOCRATES	Take the first of those which you mentioned; clearly that is a name indicative of motion.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	What was the name?
cratylus	SOCRATES	Phronesis (wisdom), which may signify phoras kai rhou noesis (perception of motion and flux), or perhaps phoras onesis (the blessing of motion), but is at any rate connected with pheresthai (motion); gnome (judgment), again, certainly implies the ponderation or consideration (nomesis) of generation, for to ponder is the same as to consider; or, if you would rather, here is noesis, the very word just now mentioned, which is neou esis (the desire of the new); the word neos implies that the world is always in process of creation. The giver of the name wanted to express this longing of the soul, for the original name was neoesis, and not noesis; but eta took the place of a double epsilon. The word sophrosune is the salvation (soteria) of that wisdom (phronesis) which we were just now considering. Epioteme (knowledge) is akin to this, and indicates that the soul which is good for anything follows (epetai) the motion of things, neither anticipating them nor falling behind them; wherefore the word should rather be read as epistemene, inserting epsilon nu. Sunesis (understanding) may be regarded in like manner as a kind of conclusion; the word is derived from sunienai (to go along with), and, like epistasthai (to know), implies the progression of the soul in company with the nature of things. Sophia (wisdom) is very dark, and appears not to be of native growth; the meaning is, touching the motion or stream of things. You must remember that the poets, when they speak of the commencement of any rapid motion, often use the word esuthe (he rushed); and there was a famous Lacedaemonian who was named Sous (Rush), for by this word the Lacedaemonians signify rapid motion, and the touching (epaphe) of motion is expressed by sophia, for all things are supposed to be in motion. Good (agathon) is the name which is given to the admirable (agasto) in nature; for, although all things move, still there are degrees of motion; some are swifter, some slower; but there are some things which are admirable for their swiftness, and this admirable part of nature is called agathon. Dikaiosune (justice) is clearly dikaiou sunesis (understanding of the just); but the actual word dikaion is more difficult: men are only agreed to a certain extent about justice, and then they begin to disagree. For those who suppose all things to be in motion conceive the greater part of nature to be a mere receptacle; and they say that there is a penetrating power which passes through all this, and is the instrument of creation in all, and is the subtlest and swiftest element; for if it were not the subtlest, and a power which none can keep out, and also the swiftest, passing by other things as if they were standing still, it could not penetrate through the moving universe. And this element, which superintends all things and pierces (diaion) all, is rightly called dikaion; the letter k is only added for the sake of euphony. Thus far, as I was saying, there is a general agreement about the nature of justice; but I, Hermogenes, being an enthusiastic disciple, have been told in a mystery that the justice of which I am speaking is also the cause of the world: now a cause is that because of which anything is created; and some one comes and whispers in my ear that justice is rightly so called because partaking of the nature of the cause, and I begin, after hearing what he has said, to interrogate him gently: “Well, my excellent friend,” say I, “but if all this be true, I still want to know what is justice.” Thereupon they think that I ask tiresome questions, and am leaping over the barriers, and have been already sufficiently answered, and they try to satisfy me with one derivation after another, and at length they quarrel. For one of them says that justice is the sun, and that he only is the piercing (diaionta) and burning (kaonta) element which is the guardian of nature. And when I joyfully repeat this beautiful notion, I am answered by the satirical remark, “What, is there no justice in the world when the sun is down?” And when I earnestly beg my questioner to tell me his own honest opinion, he says, “Fire in the abstract”; but this is not very intelligible. Another says, “No, not fire in the abstract, but the abstraction of heat in the fire.” Another man professes to laugh at all this, and says, as Anaxagoras says, that justice is mind, for mind, as they say, has absolute power, and mixes with nothing, and orders all things, and passes through all things. At last, my friend, I find myself in far greater perplexity about the nature of justice than I was before I began to learn. But still I am of opinion that the name, which has led me into this digression, was given to justice for the reasons which I have mentioned.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	I think, Socrates, that you are not improvising now; you must have heard this from some one else.
cratylus	SOCRATES	And not the rest?
cratylus	HERMOGENES	Hardly.
cratylus	SOCRATES	Well, then, let me go on in the hope of making you believe in the originality of the rest. What remains after justice? I do not think that we have as yet discussed courage (andreia),—injustice (adikia), which is obviously nothing more than a hindrance to the penetrating principle (diaiontos), need not be considered. Well, then, the name of andreia seems to imply a battle;—this battle is in the world of existence, and according to the doctrine of flux is only the counterflux (enantia rhon): if you extract the delta from andreia, the name at once signifies the thing, and you may clearly understand that andreia is not the stream opposed to every stream, but only to that which is contrary to justice, for otherwise courage would not have been praised. The words arren (male) and aner (man) also contain a similar allusion to the same principle of the upward flux (te ano rhon). Gune (woman) I suspect to be the same word as goun (birth): thelu (female) appears to be partly derived from thele (the teat), because the teat is like rain, and makes things flourish (tethelenai).
cratylus	HERMOGENES	That is surely probable.
cratylus	SOCRATES	Yes; and the very word thallein (to flourish) seems to figure the growth of youth, which is swift and sudden ever. And this is expressed by the legislator in the name, which is a compound of thein (running), and allesthai (leaping). Pray observe how I gallop away when I get on smooth ground. There are a good many names generally thought to be of importance, which have still to be explained.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	True.
cratylus	SOCRATES	There is the meaning of the word techne (art), for example.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	Very true.
cratylus	SOCRATES	That may be identified with echonoe, and expresses the possession of mind: you have only to take away the tau and insert two omichrons, one between the chi and nu, and another between the nu and eta.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	That is a very shabby etymology.
cratylus	SOCRATES	Yes, my dear friend; but then you know that the original names have been long ago buried and disguised by people sticking on and stripping off letters for the sake of euphony, and twisting and bedizening them in all sorts of ways: and time too may have had a share in the change. Take, for example, the word katoptron; why is the letter rho inserted? This must surely be the addition of some one who cares nothing about the truth, but thinks only of putting the mouth into shape. And the additions are often such that at last no human being can possibly make out the original meaning of the word. Another example is the word sphigx, sphiggos, which ought properly to be phigx, phiggos, and there are other examples.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	That is quite true, Socrates.
cratylus	SOCRATES	And yet, if you are permitted to put in and pull out any letters which you please, names will be too easily made, and any name may be adapted to any object.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	True.
cratylus	SOCRATES	Yes, that is true. And therefore a wise dictator, like yourself, should observe the laws of moderation and probability.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	Such is my desire.
cratylus	SOCRATES	And mine, too, Hermogenes. But do not be too much of a precisian, or “you will unnerve me of my strength (Iliad.).” When you have allowed me to add mechane (contrivance) to techne (art) I shall be at the top of my bent, for I conceive mechane to be a sign of great accomplishment—anein; for mekos has the meaning of greatness, and these two, mekos and anein, make up the word mechane. But, as I was saying, being now at the top of my bent, I should like to consider the meaning of the two words arete (virtue) and kakia (vice); arete I do not as yet understand, but kakia is transparent, and agrees with the principles which preceded, for all things being in a flux (ionton), kakia is kakos ion (going badly); and this evil motion when existing in the soul has the general name of kakia, or vice, specially appropriated to it. The meaning of kakos ienai may be further illustrated by the use of deilia (cowardice), which ought to have come after andreia, but was forgotten, and, as I fear, is not the only word which has been passed over. Deilia signifies that the soul is bound with a strong chain (desmos), for lian means strength, and therefore deilia expresses the greatest and strongest bond of the soul; and aporia (difficulty) is an evil of the same nature (from a (alpha) not, and poreuesthai to go), like anything else which is an impediment to motion and movement. Then the word kakia appears to mean kakos ienai, or going badly, or limping and halting; of which the consequence is, that the soul becomes filled with vice. And if kakia is the name of this sort of thing, arete will be the opposite of it, signifying in the first place ease of motion, then that the stream of the good soul is unimpeded, and has therefore the attribute of ever flowing without let or hindrance, and is therefore called arete, or, more correctly, aeireite (ever-flowing), and may perhaps have had another form, airete (eligible), indicating that nothing is more eligible than virtue, and this has been hammered into arete. I daresay that you will deem this to be another invention of mine, but I think that if the previous word kakia was right, then arete is also right.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	But what is the meaning of kakon, which has played so great a part in your previous discourse?
cratylus	SOCRATES	That is a very singular word about which I can hardly form an opinion, and therefore I must have recourse to my ingenious device.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	What device?
cratylus	SOCRATES	The device of a foreign origin, which I shall give to this word also.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	Very likely you are right; but suppose that we leave these words and endeavour to see the rationale of kalon and aischron.
cratylus	SOCRATES	The meaning of aischron is evident, being only aei ischon roes (always preventing from flowing), and this is in accordance with our former derivations. For the name-giver was a great enemy to stagnation of all sorts, and hence he gave the name aeischoroun to that which hindered the flux (aei ischon roun), and that is now beaten together into aischron.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	But what do you say of kalon?
cratylus	SOCRATES	That is more obscure; yet the form is only due to the quantity, and has been changed by altering omicron upsilon into omicron.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	What do you mean?
cratylus	SOCRATES	This name appears to denote mind.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	How so?
cratylus	SOCRATES	Let me ask you what is the cause why anything has a name; is not the principle which imposes the name the cause?
cratylus	HERMOGENES	Certainly.
cratylus	SOCRATES	And must not this be the mind of Gods, or of men, or of both?
cratylus	HERMOGENES	Yes.
cratylus	SOCRATES	Is not mind that which called (kalesan) things by their names, and is not mind the beautiful (kalon)?
cratylus	HERMOGENES	That is evident.
cratylus	SOCRATES	And are not the works of intelligence and mind worthy of praise, and are not other works worthy of blame?
cratylus	HERMOGENES	Certainly.
cratylus	SOCRATES	Physic does the work of a physician, and carpentering does the works of a carpenter?
cratylus	HERMOGENES	Exactly.
cratylus	SOCRATES	And the principle of beauty does the works of beauty?
cratylus	HERMOGENES	Of course.
cratylus	SOCRATES	And that principle we affirm to be mind?
cratylus	HERMOGENES	Very true.
cratylus	SOCRATES	Then mind is rightly called beauty because she does the works which we recognize and speak of as the beautiful?
cratylus	HERMOGENES	That is evident.
cratylus	SOCRATES	What more names remain to us?
cratylus	HERMOGENES	There are the words which are connected with agathon and kalon, such as sumpheron and lusiteloun, ophelimon, kerdaleon, and their opposites.
cratylus	SOCRATES	The meaning of sumpheron (expedient) I think that you may discover for yourself by the light of the previous examples,—for it is a sister word to episteme, meaning just the motion (pora) of the soul accompanying the world, and things which are done upon this principle are called sumphora or sumpheronta, because they are carried round with the world.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	That is probable.
cratylus	SOCRATES	Again, cherdaleon (gainful) is called from cherdos (gain), but you must alter the delta into nu if you want to get at the meaning; for this word also signifies good, but in another way; he who gave the name intended to express the power of admixture (kerannumenon) and universal penetration in the good; in forming the word, however, he inserted a delta instead of a nu, and so made kerdos.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	Well, but what is lusiteloun (profitable)?
cratylus	SOCRATES	I suppose, Hermogenes, that people do not mean by the profitable the gainful or that which pays (luei) the retailer, but they use the word in the sense of swift. You regard the profitable (lusiteloun), as that which being the swiftest thing in existence, allows of no stay in things and no pause or end of motion, but always, if there begins to be any end, lets things go again (luei), and makes motion immortal and unceasing: and in this point of view, as appears to me, the good is happily denominated lusiteloun—being that which looses (luon) the end (telos) of motion. Ophelimon (the advantageous) is derived from ophellein, meaning that which creates and increases; this latter is a common Homeric word, and has a foreign character.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	And what do you say of their opposites?
cratylus	SOCRATES	Of such as are mere negatives I hardly think that I need speak.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	Which are they?
cratylus	SOCRATES	The words axumphoron (inexpedient), anopheles (unprofitable), alusiteles (unadvantageous), akerdes (ungainful).
cratylus	HERMOGENES	True.
cratylus	SOCRATES	I would rather take the words blaberon (harmful), zemiodes (hurtful).
cratylus	HERMOGENES	Good.
cratylus	SOCRATES	The word blaberon is that which is said to hinder or harm (blaptein) the stream (roun); blapton is boulomenon aptein (seeking to hold or bind); for aptein is the same as dein, and dein is always a term of censure; boulomenon aptein roun (wanting to bind the stream) would properly be boulapteroun, and this, as I imagine, is improved into blaberon.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	You bring out curious results, Socrates, in the use of names; and when I hear the word boulapteroun I cannot help imagining that you are making your mouth into a flute, and puffing away at some prelude to Athene.
cratylus	SOCRATES	That is the fault of the makers of the name, Hermogenes; not mine.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	Very true; but what is the derivation of zemiodes?
cratylus	SOCRATES	What is the meaning of zemiodes?—let me remark, Hermogenes, how right I was in saying that great changes are made in the meaning of words by putting in and pulling out letters; even a very slight permutation will sometimes give an entirely opposite sense; I may instance the word deon, which occurs to me at the moment, and reminds me of what I was going to say to you, that the fine fashionable language of modern times has twisted and disguised and entirely altered the original meaning both of deon, and also of zemiodes, which in the old language is clearly indicated.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	What do you mean?
cratylus	SOCRATES	I will try to explain. You are aware that our forefathers loved the sounds iota and delta, especially the women, who are most conservative of the ancient language, but now they change iota into eta or epsilon, and delta into zeta; this is supposed to increase the grandeur of the sound.
cratylus	HERMOGENES	How do you mean?
cratylus	SOCRATES	For example, in very ancient times they called the day either imera or emera (short e), which is called by us emera (long e).
cratylus	HERMOGENES	That is true.
cratylus	SOCRATES	Do you observe that only the ancient form shows the intention of the giver of the name? of which the reason is, that men long for (imeirousi) and love the light which comes after the darkness, and is therefore called imera, from imeros, desire.

cratylus

HERMOGENES

What do you say of pur (fire) and udor (water)?

cratylus

SOCRATES

I am at a loss how to explain pur; either the muse of Euthyphro has deserted me, or there is some very great difficulty in the word. Please, however, to note the contrivance which I adopt whenever I am in a difficulty of this sort.

cratylus

HERMOGENES

What is it?

cratylus

SOCRATES

I will tell you; but I should like to know first whether you can tell me what is the meaning of the pur?

cratylus

HERMOGENES

Indeed I cannot.

cratylus

SOCRATES

Shall I tell you what I suspect to be the true explanation of this and several other words?—My belief is that they are of foreign origin. For the Hellenes, especially those who were under the dominion of the barbarians, often borrowed from them.

cratylus

HERMOGENES

What is the inference?

cratylus

SOCRATES

Why, you know that any one who seeks to demonstrate the fitness of these names according to the Hellenic language, and not according to the language from which the words are derived, is rather likely to be at fault.

cratylus

HERMOGENES

Yes, certainly.

cratylus

SOCRATES

Well then, consider whether this pur is not foreign; for the word is not easily brought into relation with the Hellenic tongue, and the Phrygians may be observed to have the same word slightly changed, just as they have udor (water) and kunes (dogs), and many other words.

cratylus

HERMOGENES

That is true.

cratylus

SOCRATES

Any violent interpretations of the words should be avoided; for something to say about them may easily be found. And thus I get rid of pur and udor. Aer (air), Hermogenes, may be explained as the element which raises (airei) things from the earth, or as ever flowing (aei rei), or because the flux of the air is wind, and the poets call the winds “air-blasts,” (aetai); he who uses the term may mean, so to speak, air-flux (aetorroun), in the sense of wind-flux (pneumatorroun); and because this moving wind may be expressed by either term he employs the word air (aer = aetes rheo). Aither (aether) I should interpret as aeitheer; this may be correctly said, because this element is always running in a flux about the air (aei thei peri tou aera reon). The meaning of the word ge (earth) comes out better when in the form of gaia, for the earth may be truly called “mother” (gaia, genneteira), as in the language of Homer (Od.) gegaasi means gegennesthai.

cratylus

HERMOGENES

Good.

cratylus

SOCRATES

What shall we take next?

cratylus

HERMOGENES

There are orai (the seasons), and the two names of the year, eniautos and etos.

cratylus

SOCRATES

The orai should be spelt in the old Attic way, if you desire to know the probable truth about them; they are rightly called the orai because they divide (orizousin) the summers and winters and winds and the fruits of the earth. The words eniautos and etos appear to be the same,—“that which brings to light the plants and growths of the earth in their turn, and passes them in review within itself (en eauto exetazei)”: this is broken up into two words, eniautos from en eauto, and etos from etazei, just as the original name of Zeus was divided into Zena and Dia; and the whole proposition means that his power of reviewing from within is one, but has two names, two words etos and eniautos being thus formed out of a single proposition.

cratylus

HERMOGENES

Indeed, Socrates, you make surprising progress.

cratylus

SOCRATES

I am run away with.

cratylus

HERMOGENES

Very true.

cratylus

SOCRATES

But am not yet at my utmost speed.

cratylus

HERMOGENES

I should like very much to know, in the next place, how you would explain the virtues. What principle of correctness is there in those charming words—wisdom, understanding, justice, and the rest of them?

cratylus

SOCRATES

That is a tremendous class of names which you are disinterring; still, as I have put on the lion’s skin, I must not be faint of heart; and I suppose that I must consider the meaning of wisdom (phronesis) and understanding (sunesis), and judgment (gnome), and knowledge (episteme), and all those other charming words, as you call them?

cratylus

HERMOGENES

Surely, we must not leave off until we find out their meaning.

cratylus

SOCRATES

By the dog of Egypt I have a not bad notion which came into my head only this moment: I believe that the primeval givers of names were undoubtedly like too many of our modern philosophers, who, in their search after the nature of things, are always getting dizzy from constantly going round and round, and then they imagine that the world is going round and round and moving in all directions; and this appearance, which arises out of their own internal condition, they suppose to be a reality of nature; they think that there is nothing stable or permanent, but only flux and motion, and that the world is always full of every sort of motion and change. The consideration of the names which I mentioned has led me into making this reflection.

cratylus

HERMOGENES

How is that, Socrates?

cratylus

SOCRATES

Perhaps you did not observe that in the names which have been just cited, the motion or flux or generation of things is most surely indicated.

cratylus

HERMOGENES

No, indeed, I never thought of it.

cratylus

SOCRATES

Take the first of those which you mentioned; clearly that is a name indicative of motion.

cratylus

HERMOGENES

What was the name?

cratylus

SOCRATES

Phronesis (wisdom), which may signify phoras kai rhou noesis (perception of motion and flux), or perhaps phoras onesis (the blessing of motion), but is at any rate connected with pheresthai (motion); gnome (judgment), again, certainly implies the ponderation or consideration (nomesis) of generation, for to ponder is the same as to consider; or, if you would rather, here is noesis, the very word just now mentioned, which is neou esis (the desire of the new); the word neos implies that the world is always in process of creation. The giver of the name wanted to express this longing of the soul, for the original name was neoesis, and not noesis; but eta took the place of a double epsilon. The word sophrosune is the salvation (soteria) of that wisdom (phronesis) which we were just now considering. Epioteme (knowledge) is akin to this, and indicates that the soul which is good for anything follows (epetai) the motion of things, neither anticipating them nor falling behind them; wherefore the word should rather be read as epistemene, inserting epsilon nu. Sunesis (understanding) may be regarded in like manner as a kind of conclusion; the word is derived from sunienai (to go along with), and, like epistasthai (to know), implies the progression of the soul in company with the nature of things. Sophia (wisdom) is very dark, and appears not to be of native growth; the meaning is, touching the motion or stream of things. You must remember that the poets, when they speak of the commencement of any rapid motion, often use the word esuthe (he rushed); and there was a famous Lacedaemonian who was named Sous (Rush), for by this word the Lacedaemonians signify rapid motion, and the touching (epaphe) of motion is expressed by sophia, for all things are supposed to be in motion. Good (agathon) is the name which is given to the admirable (agasto) in nature; for, although all things move, still there are degrees of motion; some are swifter, some slower; but there are some things which are admirable for their swiftness, and this admirable part of nature is called agathon. Dikaiosune (justice) is clearly dikaiou sunesis (understanding of the just); but the actual word dikaion is more difficult: men are only agreed to a certain extent about justice, and then they begin to disagree. For those who suppose all things to be in motion conceive the greater part of nature to be a mere receptacle; and they say that there is a penetrating power which passes through all this, and is the instrument of creation in all, and is the subtlest and swiftest element; for if it were not the subtlest, and a power which none can keep out, and also the swiftest, passing by other things as if they were standing still, it could not penetrate through the moving universe. And this element, which superintends all things and pierces (diaion) all, is rightly called dikaion; the letter k is only added for the sake of euphony. Thus far, as I was saying, there is a general agreement about the nature of justice; but I, Hermogenes, being an enthusiastic disciple, have been told in a mystery that the justice of which I am speaking is also the cause of the world: now a cause is that because of which anything is created; and some one comes and whispers in my ear that justice is rightly so called because partaking of the nature of the cause, and I begin, after hearing what he has said, to interrogate him gently: “Well, my excellent friend,” say I, “but if all this be true, I still want to know what is justice.” Thereupon they think that I ask tiresome questions, and am leaping over the barriers, and have been already sufficiently answered, and they try to satisfy me with one derivation after another, and at length they quarrel. For one of them says that justice is the sun, and that he only is the piercing (diaionta) and burning (kaonta) element which is the guardian of nature. And when I joyfully repeat this beautiful notion, I am answered by the satirical remark, “What, is there no justice in the world when the sun is down?” And when I earnestly beg my questioner to tell me his own honest opinion, he says, “Fire in the abstract”; but this is not very intelligible. Another says, “No, not fire in the abstract, but the abstraction of heat in the fire.” Another man professes to laugh at all this, and says, as Anaxagoras says, that justice is mind, for mind, as they say, has absolute power, and mixes with nothing, and orders all things, and passes through all things. At last, my friend, I find myself in far greater perplexity about the nature of justice than I was before I began to learn. But still I am of opinion that the name, which has led me into this digression, was given to justice for the reasons which I have mentioned.

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HERMOGENES

I think, Socrates, that you are not improvising now; you must have heard this from some one else.

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SOCRATES

And not the rest?

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HERMOGENES

Hardly.

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SOCRATES

Well, then, let me go on in the hope of making you believe in the originality of the rest. What remains after justice? I do not think that we have as yet discussed courage (andreia),—injustice (adikia), which is obviously nothing more than a hindrance to the penetrating principle (diaiontos), need not be considered. Well, then, the name of andreia seems to imply a battle;—this battle is in the world of existence, and according to the doctrine of flux is only the counterflux (enantia rhon): if you extract the delta from andreia, the name at once signifies the thing, and you may clearly understand that andreia is not the stream opposed to every stream, but only to that which is contrary to justice, for otherwise courage would not have been praised. The words arren (male) and aner (man) also contain a similar allusion to the same principle of the upward flux (te ano rhon). Gune (woman) I suspect to be the same word as goun (birth): thelu (female) appears to be partly derived from thele (the teat), because the teat is like rain, and makes things flourish (tethelenai).

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HERMOGENES

That is surely probable.

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SOCRATES

Yes; and the very word thallein (to flourish) seems to figure the growth of youth, which is swift and sudden ever. And this is expressed by the legislator in the name, which is a compound of thein (running), and allesthai (leaping). Pray observe how I gallop away when I get on smooth ground. There are a good many names generally thought to be of importance, which have still to be explained.

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HERMOGENES

True.

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SOCRATES

There is the meaning of the word techne (art), for example.

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HERMOGENES

Very true.

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SOCRATES

That may be identified with echonoe, and expresses the possession of mind: you have only to take away the tau and insert two omichrons, one between the chi and nu, and another between the nu and eta.

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HERMOGENES

That is a very shabby etymology.

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SOCRATES

Yes, my dear friend; but then you know that the original names have been long ago buried and disguised by people sticking on and stripping off letters for the sake of euphony, and twisting and bedizening them in all sorts of ways: and time too may have had a share in the change. Take, for example, the word katoptron; why is the letter rho inserted? This must surely be the addition of some one who cares nothing about the truth, but thinks only of putting the mouth into shape. And the additions are often such that at last no human being can possibly make out the original meaning of the word. Another example is the word sphigx, sphiggos, which ought properly to be phigx, phiggos, and there are other examples.

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HERMOGENES

That is quite true, Socrates.

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SOCRATES

And yet, if you are permitted to put in and pull out any letters which you please, names will be too easily made, and any name may be adapted to any object.

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HERMOGENES

True.

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SOCRATES

Yes, that is true. And therefore a wise dictator, like yourself, should observe the laws of moderation and probability.

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HERMOGENES

Such is my desire.

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SOCRATES

And mine, too, Hermogenes. But do not be too much of a precisian, or “you will unnerve me of my strength (Iliad.).” When you have allowed me to add mechane (contrivance) to techne (art) I shall be at the top of my bent, for I conceive mechane to be a sign of great accomplishment—anein; for mekos has the meaning of greatness, and these two, mekos and anein, make up the word mechane. But, as I was saying, being now at the top of my bent, I should like to consider the meaning of the two words arete (virtue) and kakia (vice); arete I do not as yet understand, but kakia is transparent, and agrees with the principles which preceded, for all things being in a flux (ionton), kakia is kakos ion (going badly); and this evil motion when existing in the soul has the general name of kakia, or vice, specially appropriated to it. The meaning of kakos ienai may be further illustrated by the use of deilia (cowardice), which ought to have come after andreia, but was forgotten, and, as I fear, is not the only word which has been passed over. Deilia signifies that the soul is bound with a strong chain (desmos), for lian means strength, and therefore deilia expresses the greatest and strongest bond of the soul; and aporia (difficulty) is an evil of the same nature (from a (alpha) not, and poreuesthai to go), like anything else which is an impediment to motion and movement. Then the word kakia appears to mean kakos ienai, or going badly, or limping and halting; of which the consequence is, that the soul becomes filled with vice. And if kakia is the name of this sort of thing, arete will be the opposite of it, signifying in the first place ease of motion, then that the stream of the good soul is unimpeded, and has therefore the attribute of ever flowing without let or hindrance, and is therefore called arete, or, more correctly, aeireite (ever-flowing), and may perhaps have had another form, airete (eligible), indicating that nothing is more eligible than virtue, and this has been hammered into arete. I daresay that you will deem this to be another invention of mine, but I think that if the previous word kakia was right, then arete is also right.

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HERMOGENES

But what is the meaning of kakon, which has played so great a part in your previous discourse?

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SOCRATES

That is a very singular word about which I can hardly form an opinion, and therefore I must have recourse to my ingenious device.

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HERMOGENES

What device?

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SOCRATES

The device of a foreign origin, which I shall give to this word also.

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HERMOGENES

Very likely you are right; but suppose that we leave these words and endeavour to see the rationale of kalon and aischron.

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SOCRATES

The meaning of aischron is evident, being only aei ischon roes (always preventing from flowing), and this is in accordance with our former derivations. For the name-giver was a great enemy to stagnation of all sorts, and hence he gave the name aeischoroun to that which hindered the flux (aei ischon roun), and that is now beaten together into aischron.

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HERMOGENES

But what do you say of kalon?

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SOCRATES

That is more obscure; yet the form is only due to the quantity, and has been changed by altering omicron upsilon into omicron.

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HERMOGENES

What do you mean?

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SOCRATES

This name appears to denote mind.

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HERMOGENES

How so?

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SOCRATES

Let me ask you what is the cause why anything has a name; is not the principle which imposes the name the cause?

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HERMOGENES

Certainly.

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SOCRATES

And must not this be the mind of Gods, or of men, or of both?

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HERMOGENES

Yes.

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SOCRATES

Is not mind that which called (kalesan) things by their names, and is not mind the beautiful (kalon)?

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HERMOGENES

That is evident.

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SOCRATES

And are not the works of intelligence and mind worthy of praise, and are not other works worthy of blame?

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HERMOGENES

Certainly.

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SOCRATES

Physic does the work of a physician, and carpentering does the works of a carpenter?

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HERMOGENES

Exactly.

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SOCRATES

And the principle of beauty does the works of beauty?

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HERMOGENES

Of course.

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SOCRATES

And that principle we affirm to be mind?

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HERMOGENES

Very true.

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SOCRATES

Then mind is rightly called beauty because she does the works which we recognize and speak of as the beautiful?

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HERMOGENES

That is evident.

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SOCRATES

What more names remain to us?

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HERMOGENES

There are the words which are connected with agathon and kalon, such as sumpheron and lusiteloun, ophelimon, kerdaleon, and their opposites.

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SOCRATES

The meaning of sumpheron (expedient) I think that you may discover for yourself by the light of the previous examples,—for it is a sister word to episteme, meaning just the motion (pora) of the soul accompanying the world, and things which are done upon this principle are called sumphora or sumpheronta, because they are carried round with the world.

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HERMOGENES

That is probable.

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SOCRATES

Again, cherdaleon (gainful) is called from cherdos (gain), but you must alter the delta into nu if you want to get at the meaning; for this word also signifies good, but in another way; he who gave the name intended to express the power of admixture (kerannumenon) and universal penetration in the good; in forming the word, however, he inserted a delta instead of a nu, and so made kerdos.

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HERMOGENES

Well, but what is lusiteloun (profitable)?

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SOCRATES

I suppose, Hermogenes, that people do not mean by the profitable the gainful or that which pays (luei) the retailer, but they use the word in the sense of swift. You regard the profitable (lusiteloun), as that which being the swiftest thing in existence, allows of no stay in things and no pause or end of motion, but always, if there begins to be any end, lets things go again (luei), and makes motion immortal and unceasing: and in this point of view, as appears to me, the good is happily denominated lusiteloun—being that which looses (luon) the end (telos) of motion. Ophelimon (the advantageous) is derived from ophellein, meaning that which creates and increases; this latter is a common Homeric word, and has a foreign character.

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HERMOGENES

And what do you say of their opposites?

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SOCRATES

Of such as are mere negatives I hardly think that I need speak.

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HERMOGENES

Which are they?

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SOCRATES

The words axumphoron (inexpedient), anopheles (unprofitable), alusiteles (unadvantageous), akerdes (ungainful).

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HERMOGENES

True.

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SOCRATES

I would rather take the words blaberon (harmful), zemiodes (hurtful).

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HERMOGENES

Good.

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SOCRATES

The word blaberon is that which is said to hinder or harm (blaptein) the stream (roun); blapton is boulomenon aptein (seeking to hold or bind); for aptein is the same as dein, and dein is always a term of censure; boulomenon aptein roun (wanting to bind the stream) would properly be boulapteroun, and this, as I imagine, is improved into blaberon.

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HERMOGENES

You bring out curious results, Socrates, in the use of names; and when I hear the word boulapteroun I cannot help imagining that you are making your mouth into a flute, and puffing away at some prelude to Athene.

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SOCRATES

That is the fault of the makers of the name, Hermogenes; not mine.

cratylus

HERMOGENES

Very true; but what is the derivation of zemiodes?

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SOCRATES

What is the meaning of zemiodes?—let me remark, Hermogenes, how right I was in saying that great changes are made in the meaning of words by putting in and pulling out letters; even a very slight permutation will sometimes give an entirely opposite sense; I may instance the word deon, which occurs to me at the moment, and reminds me of what I was going to say to you, that the fine fashionable language of modern times has twisted and disguised and entirely altered the original meaning both of deon, and also of zemiodes, which in the old language is clearly indicated.

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HERMOGENES

What do you mean?

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SOCRATES

I will try to explain. You are aware that our forefathers loved the sounds iota and delta, especially the women, who are most conservative of the ancient language, but now they change iota into eta or epsilon, and delta into zeta; this is supposed to increase the grandeur of the sound.

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HERMOGENES

How do you mean?

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SOCRATES

For example, in very ancient times they called the day either imera or emera (short e), which is called by us emera (long e).

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HERMOGENES

That is true.

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SOCRATES

Do you observe that only the ancient form shows the intention of the giver of the name? of which the reason is, that men long for (imeirousi) and love the light which comes after the darkness, and is therefore called imera, from imeros, desire.