Plato’s Phaedrus in emails – email 3

 

Lysias combines general observations about lovers and non-lovers with direct appeals to the boy.

He observes:

“One might think lovers preferable to non-lovers, for a lover is willing to do anything to please his beloved, even to harm those he loved before. But this only means that the lover will set greater store by the loved-one of tomorrow than by that of today, and will do harm to the old love if required by the new.

Under the compulsion of love, the lover neglects his own affairs and damages his own interests; he is ready to gratify his beloved while arousing the dislike of everyone else. The lover himself admits that when he is in love, he is not in his right mind; knowing that he is wrong in his mind, he says that he is unable to control himself. When he comes to his senses, how can he approve of the promises he made to the boy when he was out of his mind?

How can it be right to trust himself to one afflicted with such a malady? How can one give away the thing so precious to a man so sick?

The non-lover is master of himself, free of afflictions that bedevil the lover. He bestows his benefits on the boy with an eye to his own interests.”

He appeals to the boy:

“If you were to choose the best out of those who are in love with you, your choice would be only from a few. But if you choose the man most commendable to you from the others, your choice will be from many.

If you are afraid of public opinion, and would avoid condemnation, it may be expected that a lover will be eager to talk about his successes, but the non-lover will prefer what is best rather than shine in the eyes of others.

You will become a better man if you listen to me rather than to a lover. For lovers commend anything you say or do, even when it is wrong, because they are afraid to offend you, and because their judgement is weakened by their passion; Eros makes this happen. But if you listen to me, I shall have intercourse with you with an eye not to present pleasure, but also to the benefit which is to come, because I am not overcome by love, but master of myself.”

Plato’s Phaedrus in emails – email 2

 

“By Hera, what a lovely resting-place,” exclaimed Socrates, “with its plane tree, so tall and spreading, and the tall agnus in full flower; it gives us shade, and makes the place so fragrant! And the stream under the plane tree, how cool to the feet! The freshness of the air is so pleasant! And the shrill summery music of the cicada-choir! And the grass on a gentle slope, thick enough to lie down and rest your head most comfortably. Dear friend, you’ve been the stranger’s perfect guide.”

Phaedrus: “Socrates, you admirable man, you strike me as the oddest person. As you say, you are like a stranger on a visit. You never leave the town, never set your foot outside the wall.”

Socrates: “I’m a lover of learning, and trees and open country won’t teach me anything, whereas men in the town do. But you have discovered a recipe for getting me out. A hungry animal can be led by dangling a carrot in front of it; you can lead me all around Attica and wherever else you please by proffering me speeches in books. I’m going to lie down, and you choose whatever posture you find most convenient, and read.”

Phaedrus: “Then listen.”

The hero of Lysias' speech addresses the boy he propositions: ‘You know how I am situated, and I have told you that I think it to be to our mutual advantage that this should happen. Now I claim that I should not be refused what I ask simply because I am not your lover. Lovers, when their craving is at an end, repent of such benefits as they have conferred. The others do not regret what has passed; for being free from compulsion, they bestow their services according to their means, with an eye to their own personal interests ...”

Plato’s Phaedrus in emails – email 1

 

Dear friend,

The International Symposium I shall attend in November in Prague is going to be on Plato's Phaedrus. I should like to give you an idea about this dialogue in a series of emails. 

Socrates opens the dialogue with the words: "Dear Phaedrus, where are you going and from where are you coming?" Phaedrus explains that he is going for a walk outside the city walls; he spent the whole morning in the company of Lysias and his friends. Socrates muses: "Obviously, Lysias was entertaining you with his speeches." Phaedrus tells him that the speech was erotic, but in a strange way: “Lysias described how a handsome boy was tempted, but not by a lover; he should surrender to one who is not in love with him rather than to one who is." 

Socrates is eager to hear it. They walk along a little stream, called Ilissus, looking for a place to sit. Phaedrus asks whether the spot they just reached isn't the one from which Boreas [the northern wind, worshipped as an anthropomorphic god] is said to have seized Oireithuia [a daughter of the Athenian king Erechtheus]. Socrates replies that the spot from which Boreas seized her is a little further down the stream. Phaedrus asks: "Socrates, do you believe this mythical story to be true?" Socrates replies that if he disbelieved it, he might conjecture that a blast of Boreas pushed Oireithuia from the nearby rocks, and when she fell dead, it was said that she had been seized by Boreas: "I don't have time for such things, and I'll tell you why. I can't yet 'know myself'', as the inscription at Delphi enjoins. Instead of investigating such things, I investigate myself: Am I a beast more complex and more puffed up than Typhon [a hundred-headed monster, the son of Gaea, the Earth, and Tartarus, the Underworld, the Hell], or am I a gentler, simpler being, having a share in some divine and un-Typhonic nature?"

Best wishes,

Julius

 

Lucky, but sad

 

On Wednesday April 7 I received an email from Mr Krása, who invited me in the name of the Czech Platonic Society to present a paper at the XIII Symposium Platonicum Pragense, which will be devoted to Plato’s Phaedrus and will take place on November 3-5 in Prague. I was elated.

On April 11, I wrote to a friend of mine: ‘I opened my e-mails at ten this evening, just after my breakfast. This is not a mistake. I completely lost the sense of time. For after I wrote to you my last letter, I began to write my contribution for the Prague Symposium. And it just grabbed me. I wrote, went to sleep, woke up, started to write again, shaved, had a bath combined with massaging my whole body, went to bed again, woke up, worked a bit on my ‘Dating of the Phaedrus’, went to bed. Woke up, did some more work, cooked my breakfast, worked some more, went to bed, woke up, worked some more, went shopping, which I combined with a decent bit of cycling, went to bed, woke up, worked again, made my supper, worked again, went for a night walk, went to bed again, woke up, made my bath, worked again, went to bed, woke up at about eight in the morning – or so I thought. I was surprised that it was rather dark for eight in the morning, ‘it must be very cloudy’, I thought, and began to prepare my breakfast. When I looked at the window again, it began to be seriously dark. Only then I realized that it wasn’t a quarter past eight in the morning, but in the evening.’

When I finished the paper, I wanted to time my reading it aloud. I read the first sentence and had to stop timing. I had to rewrite the sentence, too many words, I wanted it terse. I started again, and the same happened with my second, the with my third sentence. At that point I realized that I must revise the paper. The revision took three or four days. I started reading it aloud and timing. It was better, but after being forced to make changes again, I stopped the timing and revised it again. This time I decided to read it aloud without timing, leaving as much time ass was needed for the final revision. When I finished it, I read it aloud in one go, was happy, timed it, shortened it to get into the prescribed 30 minutes.

I read it aloud again, and again, until I was happy with my reading. I wated for more than 40 years for the opportunity to present this paper to academics for discussion. The discussion period will be for 40 minutes. I am looking forward to it.

***

Until this point all my Greek quotations were written in italics. But being really happy with it, I decided to change the italics into the authentic Greek script. It was quite a job, for I haven’t used the SPionic for years. I managed in the end, and was very happy with it.

***

Then I began to write a Czech version of my paper on Plato for the Symposium. I began by translating the English version, but since the Czech version is not designed to be read at the Symposium, I felt free to discuss points, which I could not do in the English version because of the 30 minutes time constraint. And new points compelled me to quote some Greek. To my amazement, the SPionic did not allow me to print any Ancient Greek characters. It appeared to function as if designed for the modern Greek. At that moment I realised how lucky I was that I succeeded in rewriting all my quotations in the Ancient Greek alphabet.

It made me sad, when I realised that from now on there was to be no possibility of quoting Ancient Greek on the internet. I spoke about it to a friend; I told him I was about to write about it on my blog. But before committing myself to the intended post, I tried it again. And to my amazement, it worked. I thought of writing a post on ‘Lucky, sad, happy’, but then I was distracted by other things, reading English detective stories aloud, just to keep my voice in good condition. For week or two I did not touch any Greek. But today I returned to my Czech version.

I was explaining that in the Palinode Plato responded to the challenge raised by Aristophanes’ last choric antistrophe in the Frogs. The chorus maintains that when he ceased writing tragedies, he threw away and abandoned the greatest art. In the Palinode Plato shows that philosophy is the greatest art (mousikȇ).

I went on to explain that Plato in the Palinode indicates that as a philosopher he was destined to be the ruler. Thus, at 246e Zeus, the great leader, travels first, leading the train of his followers, and ordering all things in cosmos; at 250b1-7 Plato says that before their incarnation the souls, which were to become philosophers, viewed the Forms in the company of Zeus. He becomes personal: ‘we beheld with our eyes that blessed vision, ourselves in the train of Zeus’. I wanted to type the crucial words in SPionic: e9po/menoi meta_ me_n Dio_j h9mei=j – but it did not work. Then I began to write this post, and suddenly, SPionic appears to work again.

But when I then returned to my Czech text, the SPionic didn’t work with the Czech font used as the basis.

The computer does not allow me to save this text among my documents: ‘UPLOAD BLOCKED’. And so I shall copy the text and try to put it on my blog as my next post. Will that work?