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Three Millennia of Greek Literature
 

Plato Bilingual Anthology : WISDOM

from the 7th Epistle, * 341b-345a, translated by B. Jowett

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ELPENOR EDITIONS IN PRINT
Page 6

Now in subjects in which, by reason of our defective education, we have not been accustomed even to search for the truth, but are satisfied with whatever images are presented to us, we are not held up to ridicule by one another, the questioned by questioners, who can pull to pieces and criticise the four things. But in subjects where we try to compel a man to give a clear answer about the fifth, any one of those who are capable of overthrowing an antagonist gets the better of us, and makes the man, who gives an exposition in speech or writing or in replies to questions, appear to most of his hearers to know nothing of the things on which he is attempting to write or speak; for they are sometimes not aware that it is not the mind of the writer or speaker which is proved to be at fault, but the defective nature of each of the four instruments. The process however of dealing with all of these, as the mind moves up and down to each in turn, does after much effort give birth in a well-constituted mind to knowledge of that which is well constituted. But if a man is ill-constituted by nature (as the state of the soul is naturally in the majority both in its capacity for learning and in what is called moral character)-or it may have become so by deterioration-not even Lynceus could endow such men with the power of sight. ἐν οἷσι μὲν οὖν μηδ΄ εἰθισμένοι τὸ ἀληθὲς ζητεῖν ἐσμεν ὑπὸ πονηρᾶς τροφῆς͵ ἐξαρκεῖ δὲ τὸ προταθὲν τῶν εἰδώλων͵ οὐ καταγέλαστοι γιγνόμεθα ὑπ΄ ἀλλήλων͵ οἱ ἐρωτώμενοι ὑπὸ τῶν ἐρωτώντων͵ δυναμένων δὲ τὰ τέτταρα διαρρίπτειν τε καὶ ἐλέγχειν· ἐν οἷς δ΄ ἂν τὸ πέμπτον ἀποκρίνασθαι καὶ δηλοῦν ἀναγκάζωμεν͵ ὁ βουλόμενος τῶν δυναμένων ἀνατρέπειν κρατεῖ. καὶ ποιεῖ τὸν ἐξηγούμενον ἐν λόγοις ἢ γράμμασιν ἢ ἀποκρίσεσιν τοῖς πολλοῖς τῶν ἀκουόντων δοκεῖν μηδὲν γιγνώσκειν ὧν ἂν ἐπιχειρῇ γράφειν ἢ λέγειν͵ ἀγνοούντων ἐνίοτε ὡς οὐχ ἡ ψυχὴ τοῦ γράψαντος ἢ λέξαντος ἐλέγχεται͵ ἀλλ΄ ἡ τῶν τεττάρων φύσις ἑκάστου͵ πεφυκυῖα φαύλως. ἡ δὲ διὰ πάντων αὐτῶν διαγωγή͵ ἄνω καὶ κάτω μεταβαίνουσα ἐφ΄ ἕκαστον͵ μόγις ἐπιστήμην ἐνέτεκεν εὖ πεφυκότος εὖ πεφυκότι· κακῶς δὲ ἂν φυῇ͵ ὡς ἡ τῶν πολλῶν ἕξις τῆς ψυχῆς εἴς τε τὸ μαθεῖν εἴς τε τὰ λεγόμενα ἤθη πέφυκεν͵ τὰ δὲ διέφθαρται͵ οὐδ΄ ἂν ὁ Λυγκεὺς ἰδεῖν ποιήσειεν τοὺς τοιούτους.
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Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/ancient-greece/plato-wisdom.asp?pg=6