Dialogues

the golden men, not men literally made of gold, but good and noble; and I am convinced of this, because he further says that we are the iron race. Hermogenes That is true. Socrates And do you not suppose that good men of our own day would by him be said to be of golden race? Hermogenes Very likely. Socrates And are not the good wise? Hermogenes Yes, they are wise. Socrates And therefore I have the most entire conviction that he called them demons, because they were δαήμονες (knowing or wise), and in our older Attic dialect the word itself occurs. Now he and other poets say truly, that when a good man dies he has honour and a mighty portion among the dead, and becomes a demon; which is a name given to him signifying wisdom. And I say too, that every wise man who happens to be a good man is more than human (δαιμόνιον) both in life and death, and is rightly called a demon. Hermogenes Then I rather think that I am of one mind with you; but what is the meaning of the word “hero”? (ἤρως, in the old writing ἔρως.) Socrates I think that there is no difficulty in explaining, for the name is not much altered, and signifies that they were born of love. Hermogenes What do you mean? Socrates Do you not know that the heroes are demigods? Hermogenes What then? Socrates All of them sprang either from the love of a God for a mortal woman, or of a mortal man for a Goddess; think of the word in the old Attic, and you will see better that the name heros is only a slight alteration of Eros, from whom the heroes sprang: either this is the meaning, or, if not this, then they must have been skilful as rhetoricians and dialecticians, and able to put the question (ἐρωτᾶν), for εἴρειν is equivalent to λέγειν. And therefore, as I was saying, in the Attic dialect the heroes turn out to be rhetoricians and questioners. All this is easy enough; the noble breed of heroes are a tribe of sophists and rhetors. But can you tell me why men are called ἄνθρωποι?⁠—that is more difficult. Hermogenes No, I cannot; and I would not try even if I could, because I think that you are the more likely to succeed. Socrates That is to say, you trust to the inspiration of Euthyphro. Hermogenes Of course. Socrates Your faith is not vain; for at this very moment a new and ingenious thought strikes me, and, if I am not careful, before tomorrow’s dawn I shall be wiser than I ought to be. Now, attend to me; and first, remember that we often put in and pull out letters in words, and give names as we please and change the accents. Take, for example, the word Διὶ φίλος; in order to convert this from a sentence into a noun, we omit one of the iotas and sound the middle syllable grave instead of acute; as, on the other hand, letters are sometimes inserted in words instead of being omitted, and the acute takes the place of the grave. Hermogenes That is true. Socrates The name ἄνθρωπος, which was once a sentence, and is now a noun, appears to be a case just of this sort, for one letter, which is the α, has been omitted, and the acute on the last syllable has been changed to a grave. Hermogenes What do you mean? Socrates I mean to say that the word “man” implies that other animals never examine, or consider, or look up at what they see, but that man not only sees (ὄπωπε) but considers and looks up at that which he sees, and hence he alone of all animals is rightly ἄνθρωπος, meaning ἀναθρῶν ἃ ὄπωπεν. Hermogenes May I ask you to examine another word about which I am curious? Socrates Certainly. Hermogenes I will take that which appears to me to follow next in order. You know the distinction of soul and body? Socrates Of course. Hermogenes Let us endeavour to analyze them like the previous words. Socrates You want me first of all to examine the natural fitness of the word ψυχὴ (soul), and then of the word σῶμα (body)? Hermogenes Yes. Socrates If I am to say what occurs to me at the moment, I should imagine that those who first used the name ψυχὴ meant to express that the soul when in the body is the source of life, and gives the power of breath and revival (ἀναψῦχον), and when this reviving power fails then the body perishes and dies, and this, if I am not mistaken, they called psyche. But please stay a moment; I fancy that I can discover something which will be more acceptable to the disciples of Euthyphro, for I am afraid that they will scorn this explanation. What do you say to another? Hermogenes Let me hear. Socrates What is that which holds and carries and gives life and motion to the entire nature of the body? What else but the soul? Hermogenes Just that. Socrates And do you not believe with Anaxagoras, that mind or soul is the ordering and containing principle of all things? Hermogenes Yes; I do. Socrates Then you may well call that power φυσέχη which carries and holds nature (ῆ φύσιν ὀχεῖ καὶ ἔχει), and this may be refined away into ψυχή. Hermogenes Certainly; and this derivation is, I think, more scientific than the other. Socrates It is so; but I cannot help laughing, if I am to suppose that this was the true meaning of the name. Hermogenes But what shall we say of the next word? Socrates You mean σῶμα (the body). Hermogenes Yes. Socrates That may be variously interpreted; and yet more variously if a little permutation is allowed. For some say that the body is the grave (