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THE CHARACTERS OF THE DIALOGUEPHILOSOPHY AND HISTORY.PHILOSOPHY SPEAKS THE PROLOGUE

dialog.1.1 What is this, daughter? Come now, for I am eager to learn, solve this problem for me with your clarity as with a thread, for one crossing a labyrinth that is no myth. For the forecourts of contemplation are difficult for me to enter and dialog.1.2 difficult to ascend.

{HISTORY.} O Philosophy, queen of all things, if it is indeed fitting for you both to inquire of me and to be taught by me, I will answer according to the understanding I have. For may I possess no good thing unknown, as it seems good both to me and to the Cyrenaic. dialog.1.3 {PHIL.} Gladly would I ask where and how you came back to life the day before yesterday, O daughter. But again the most persuasive power of disbelief checks our speech and pulls us back to silence as with a bridle, lest some phantom of portents dialog.1.4 deceive us. For you had been dead a long time, my child, ever since that Calydonian tyrant burst into the royal court, fenced about with iron, a half-barbarian man, of the cyclopean race, that most wanton Centaur to the chaste purple, for whom a kingdom is a prize for drunkenness. For I will be silent about the other thing out of respect for my own propriety and the dignity of my listeners. dialog.1.5 And I, at that time, was ostracized from the king's stoa, O daughter, and it was not possible to set foot in Attica, when that Thracian Anytus destroyed my king Socrates. dialog.1.6 But later in time, the Heraclidae saved me and restored my citizenship and sent away the curse from the palace, yes dialog.1.7 indeed, and they settled me in the sacred precincts of the kings. And I walk about the palace and I compose these ancient Attic melodies. For me, then, these things are well as they are; but for you, dialog.1.8 O daughter, who has been your savior and how? {HIST.} Do you not know, O queen, the great high priest and president of the whole inhabited world? {PHIL.} I know him very well indeed, O daughter. He is a very old friend of mine and a most treasured possession. dialog.1.{HIST.} Then you have, O queen, the very godsend you seek. He gave me life, raising me as if from some tomb of unreason, like a Heracles, averter of evil, raising up some Alcestis by his strength. He adopted me magnanimously and clothed me in a bright robe and adorned me with a golden dialog.1.10 necklace. And this top-knot of mine, upon which, it seems, a golden cicada is perched, this divine man has made resplendent, and he has glorified me in this present assembly, and has set up for me a platform graciously established and a freedom of speech without danger. dialog.1.11 {PHIL.} I admire, daughter, the hierophant for his greatness of mind, how great a height of achievements he has scaled, sitting upon the lofty peak of theology and establishing his colony upon the summit of the virtues. And he lays hold of the advantages that are beneath the moon, and his life consists of the most excellent discourses; for he does not wish the sublunar world to remain unadorned. dialog.1.12 So may I have joy of my own lovers. Either he philosophizes on earth without a body, or contemplation, having taken a body, converses among men dialog.1.13 as a man. {HIST.} Most beautifully, O queen, have you woven the garland of praises. But if it seems good to you, sit for a little while by this plane tree; for the tree is luxuriant, and the height of the chaste-tree and its deep shade are most beautiful. dialog.1.14 {PHIL.} Proceed, then, my child, and set a starting-line, as it were, to your narrative for those who love to listen, as a prelude. And I will give you my attention like the Ithacan, but without stopping my ears,

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ΤΑ ΤΟΥ ∆ΙΑΛΟΓΟΥ ΠΡΟΣΩΠΑΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΙΑΚΑΙΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ.ΠΡΟΛΟΓΙΖΕΙ Η ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΙΑ

dialog.1.1 Τί τοῦτο, θύγατερ; ἄγε δή μοι τὸ διαπόρημα τοῦτο γλιχομένῃ

μαθεῖν διάλυσαι οἷα μίτῳ τινὶ τῇ σαφηνείᾳ οὐ μυθικὸν περαιουμένῃ λαβύρινθον. δυσέμβατα γάρ μοι καὶ διαλογ.1.2 δυσανάγωγα τὰ τῆς θεωρίας προαύλια.

{῾ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ.} ὦ φιλοσοφία, πάντων βασίλεια, εἴ γε συμπρέπει ἐμοῦ τε

πυθέσθαι, αὐτὴν δὲ διδάσκεσθαι, ἀποκρινοῦμαι ὡς ἔχω συνέσεως. μηδὲν γὰρ ἄγνωστον ἔχοιμι καλόν, ὡς ἔμοιγε καὶ τῷ Κυρηναίῳ διαλογ.1.3 δοκεῖ. {ΦΙΛ.} ἡδέως ἐροίμην ἐγώ, ὅπη τε καὶ ὅπως χθὲς καὶ τρίτην ἀνεβίως, ὦ θύγατερ. ἐπέχει δὲ τοῦ λόγου πάλιν ἡμᾶς καὶ οἷα χαλινῷ τινι πρὸς σιωπὴν ἀνακρούεται τὸ τῆς ἀπιστίας ἐπαγωγότατον, μή πού γε φαντασία τις τερατισμάδιαλογ.1.4 των ἡμᾶς φενακίζηται. πολλοῦ γὰρ χρόνου ἐτεθνήκεις, ὦ παῖ, ἐξ ὅτου εἰσήρρησε τῇ βασιλίδι αὐλῇ ὁ Καλυδώνιος τύραννος σιδήρῳ περίφρακτος, μιξοβάρβαρος ἄνθρωπος, τὸ κυκλώπειον γένος, ὁ τῆς σώφρονος ἁλουργίδος ἀσελγέστατος Κένταυρος, ᾧ βασιλεία οἰνοφλυγίας ἀγώνισμα. τὸ γὰρ ἕτερον σιωπήσομαι αἰδοῖ τῆς ἐμῆς εὐκοσμίας τῆς τε τῶν ἀκουόντων διαλογ.1.5 σεμνότητος. κἀγὼ δὴ τότε τῆς βασιλέως στοᾶς ἐξωστρακίσθην, ὦ θύγατερ, καὶ τῆς ᾿Αττικῆς ἐπιβαίνειν οὐκ ἦν, ὁπότε τὸν ἐμὸν βασιλέα Σωκράτην ὁ Θρᾲξ ἐκεῖνος διώλεσεν ῎Ανυτος. διαλογ.1.6 χρόνῳ δ' ὕστερον ῾Ηρακλεῖδαι διέσωσαν καὶ τὴν πολιτείαν ἀπέδοσαν τό τε ἄγος τῶν ἀνακτόρων ἀποδιοπομπήσαντο, ναὶ διαλογ.1.7 δῆτα καὶ πρὸς τὰ βασιλέων τεμένη εἰσῴκισαν. καὶ περιλαλῶ τὰ βασίλεια καὶ ταῦτα δὴ τὰ ἀρχαῖα καὶ ᾿Αττικὰ μουσουργῶ κελαδήματα. ἐμοὶ μὲν δὴ ταῦτα ὅπως ἔχει καλῶς· σοὶ δ', διαλογ.1.8 ὦ θύγατερ, τίς καὶ ὅπως σωτήριος γέγονεν; {ΙΣΤ.} μῶν οὐκ οἶσθα, βασίλεια, τὸν μέγαν τῆς ἁπανταχόθεν οἰκουμένης ἀρχιερέα καὶ πρόεδρον; {ΦΙΛ.} πάνυ μὲν οὖν, ὦ θύγατερ. φίλος ἐμὸς οὗτος παλαιότατος καὶ θησαυρὸς οἰκειότατος. διαλογ.1.{ΙΣΤ.} ἔχεις οὐκοῦν, ὦ βασίλεια, τὸ ζητούμενον αὐτοσχέδιον ἕρμαιον. ἐκεῖνος ἐνεψύχωσεν ὥσπερ ἐκ τάφου τινὸς τῆς ἀλογίας ἀναλαβόμενος, οἷάπερ ῎Αλκηστίν τινα ἀλεξικάκου τινὸς ῾Ηρακλέους ἀναστησάμενος ῥώμῃ. εἰσεποιήσατο δὲ μεγαλοφρόνως περιέβαλέ τε ἐσθῆτα φαιδρὰν καὶ χρυσέῳ κατεκόσμησεν διαλογ.1.10 ὅρμῳ. τὸν δὲ κρωβύλον τουτονί, τέττιξ δ' [ὁ] ἄρα αὐτῷ χρύσεός ἐστιν ἐφεζόμενος, ὁ θεσπέσιος οὑτοσὶ κατηγλάϊσε τῷ τε παρόντι συλλόγῳ ἐλάμπρυνεν, βῆμά τε προτέθεικεν διαλογ.1.11 εὐμενῶς ἱδρυμένον καὶ παρρησίαν ἀκίνδυνον. {ΦΙΛ.} ἄγαμαι, θύγατερ, τῆς μεγαλονοίας τὸν ἱεροφάντην ἐγώ, ὁπόσης κατορθωμάτων ἀναβάσεως ἐπιβέβηκε τὴν ὑψηλὴν τῆς θεολογίας ἀκρώρειαν περικαθήμενος ἐπί τε τὸν κολοφῶνα τῶν ἀρετῶν τὴν ἀποικίαν ποιούμενος. καὶ τῶν ὑπὸ σελήνην πλεονεκτημάτων ἀντέχεται, καὶ βίος αὐτῷ οἱ πανάριστοι λόγοι· οὐκ ἐθέλει γὰρ οὔτε τὸν περίγειον κόσμον μένειν ἀκόσμητον. διαλογ.1.12 οὕτως ὀναίμην τῶν ἐμῶν ἐραστῶν. ἢ σώματος ἐκτὸς φιλοσοφεῖ ἐπὶ γῆς, ἢ θεωρία σωματωθεῖσα μετὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων διαλογ.1.13 ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἀναστρέφεται. {ΙΣΤ.} κάλλιστά γε, βασίλεια, τῶν ἐγκωμίων τὸν στέφανον ἔπλεξας. ἀλλ' εἴ σοι δοκεῖ, περὶ ταυτηνὶ τὴν πλάτανον κάθισαι μικρόν· ἀμφιλαφὲς γὰρ τὸ δένδρον, τοῦ τε ἄγνου τὸ ὕψος καὶ τὸ σύσκιον πάγκαλον. διαλογ.1.14 {ΦΙΛ.} πρόαγε δῆτα, ὦ παῖ, καὶ βαλβῖδά τινα τῇ διηγήσει τοῖς φιλακροάμοσιν ὥσπερ ἐντίθει προοίμιον. ἐγὼ δέ σοι ἐπιστήσω τὸν νοῦν οἷά τις ᾿Ιθακήσιος, μὴ διαβύσασα τὰ ὦτα,