THE COMPLETE WORKS OF PLATO. Plato

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СКАЧАТЬ Socrates.

      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.

      HERMOGENES: True.

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

      HERMOGENES: Such is my desire.

      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.

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

      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.

      HERMOGENES: What device?

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

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

      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.

      HERMOGENES: But what do you say of kalon?

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

      HERMOGENES: What do you mean?

      SOCRATES: This name appears to denote mind.

      HERMOGENES: How so?

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

      HERMOGENES: Certainly.

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

      HERMOGENES: Yes.

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

      HERMOGENES: That is evident.

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

      HERMOGENES: Certainly.

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

      HERMOGENES: Exactly.

      SOCRATES: And the principle of beauty does the works of beauty?

      HERMOGENES: Of course.

      SOCRATES: And that principle we affirm to be mind?

      HERMOGENES: Very true.

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

      HERMOGENES: That is evident.

      SOCRATES: What more names remain to us?

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

      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.

      HERMOGENES: That is probable.

      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.

      HERMOGENES: Well, but what is lusiteloun (profitable)?

      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.

      HERMOGENES: And what do you say of their opposites?

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

      HERMOGENES: Which are they?

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

      HERMOGENES: True.

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

      HERMOGENES: СКАЧАТЬ