64e3-65b7

Question 1

ἀτιμάζειν ἔμοιγε δοκεῖ, ἔφη, ὅ γε ὡς ἀληθῶς φιλόσοφος.

οὐκοῦν ὅλως δοκεῖ σοι, ἔφη, ἡ τοῦ τοιούτου πραγματεία οὐ περὶ τὸ σῶμα εἶναι, ἀλλὰ καθ᾽ ὅσον δύναται ἀφεστάναι αὐτοῦ, πρὸς δὲ τὴν ψυχὴν τετραφθαι;

Answer 1

“The one who is truly a philosopher seems to me to dishonour them,” he replied.

“So then it seems to you”, he said, “that the business of such a man is not about the body, but as much as he can to stand apart from it but to have turned to the soul?”

Question 2

Ἔμοιγε.

ἆρ᾽ οὖν πρῶτον μὲν ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις δῆλός ἐστιν ὁ [65α] φιλόσοφος ἀπολύων ὅτι μάλιστα τὴν ψυχὴν ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ σώματος κοινωνίας διαφερόντως τῶν ἄλλων ἀνθρώπων;

Answer 2

Yes

“First, then, in such matters the philosopher is clear in releasing as much as possible [65a] the soul from communion with his body more especially than other men?”

Question 3

Φαίνεται.

καὶ δοκεῖ γέ που, ὦ Σιμμία, τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀνθρώποις ᾧ μηδὲν ἡδὺ τῶν τοιούτων μηδὲ μετέχει αὐτῶν οὐκ ἄξιον εἶναι ζῆν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐγγύς τι τείνειν τοῦ τεθνάναι ὁ μηδὲν φροντίζων τῶν ἡδονῶν αἳ διὰ τοῦ σώματός εἰσιν.

πάνυ μὲν οὖν ἀληθῆ λέγεις.

Answer 3

“It appears [so].”

“And I suppose it seems indeed, O Simmias, to majority of men [that the man] to whom none of such things is sweet, nor does he have a share in them, that he is not worthy to live, but that he strives somewhat close to being dead, he who thinks nothing of the pleasures that are through the body.”

“Quite certainly indeed you speak the truth.”

Question 4

τί δὲ δὴ περὶ αὐτὴν τὴν τῆς φρονήσεως κτῆσιν; πότερον ἐμπόδιον τὸ σῶμα ἢ οὔ, ἐάν τις αὐτὸ ἐν τῇ ζητήσει [65β] κοινωνὸν συμπαραλαμβάνῃ; οἷον τὸ τοιόνδε λέγω: ἆρα ἔχει ἀλήθειάν τινα ὄψις τε καὶ ἀκοὴ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, ἢ τά γε τοιαῦτα καὶ οἱ ποιηταὶ ἡμῖν ἀεὶ θρυλοῦσιν, ὅτι οὔτ᾽ ἀκούομεν ἀκριβὲς οὐδὲν οὔτε ὁρῶμεν; καίτοι εἰ αὗται τῶν περὶ τὸ σῶμα αἰσθήσεων μὴ ἀκριβεῖς εἰσιν μηδὲ σαφεῖς, σχολῇ αἵ γε ἄλλαι: πᾶσαι γάρ που τούτων φαυλότεραί εἰσιν. ἢ σοὶ οὐ δοκοῦσιν;

πάνυ μὲν οὖν, ἔφη.

Answer 4

“What then about the acquisition itself of pure knowledge? Whether the body is a hindrance or not, if someone takes it along as a partner in the search? [65b] This is the sort of thing I am saying: do both sight and hearing possess any truth for men, or [are they] such things as the poets too are continually going on about to us, that we neither hear nor see anything that is accurate? And yet if these among the senses pertaining to the body are not accurate nor clear, the others at least scarcely [will be]. For all [the rest] I suppose are inferior to these. Do they not seem [thus] to you?”

Quite certainly indeed, he said.