{
    "schema": "prokopton42-public-passage-v1",
    "id": "plato.phaedrus",
    "canonical_url": "https://prokopton42.com/en/works/plato/phaedrus/reference-250/",
    "language": "en",
    "title": "Phaedrus",
    "author": "Plato",
    "date": "c. 370-360 BCE",
    "summary": "Beside the Ilissus, Socrates and Phaedrus move from rival speeches on love to inquiry into soul, rhetoric, and writing. Inspired madness and the myth of the winged chariot connect desire, memory, and knowledge.",
    "learning": "Compare the three speeches on love, interpret the winged chariot, and connect dialectic, knowledge of soul, and criticism of writing.",
    "long_summary": "Socrates first answers a speech attributed to Lysias with criticism of the lover, then recants in a palinode presenting philosophical love as recollection of intelligible beauty. The soul’s motion appears through a charioteer and two horses.\n\nThe final section requires a good speaker to divide subjects and know kinds of soul. The myth of Theuth criticizes writing unable to answer questions. Yet that criticism occurs in a written dialogue, making the text an examination of its own medium.",
    "historical_context": "The corpus manifests do not yet establish the precise place and circumstances of composition. The images below document the author’s world or the text’s transmission. They do not claim to show the exact scene of writing.",
    "material_world_label": "Classical Greek world, 5th century BCE",
    "material_world": {
        "technology": "Bronze, iron, pottery, simple cranes, and shipbuilding sustain cities. Power still comes mainly from people, animals, wind, and water.",
        "science": "Geometry, astronomy, inquiry into nature, and rational argument advance without modern measuring instruments or standardized experiments.",
        "medicine": "Practitioners observe symptoms, diet, and seasons; healing sanctuaries and ritual treatment also remain common.",
        "transport": "Walking and animals dominate on land. Sailing ships and triremes connect islands, ports, and colonies.",
        "agriculture": "Small farms, grain, vines, olives, goats, and sheep shape the diet; harvests remain vulnerable to weather and war.",
        "communication": "Public speech, messengers, and handwritten letters carry news. Theatre, the civic square, and the banquet are major social media.",
        "clothing": "Women and men drape wool or linen as chitons, peploi, and cloaks. Garments are pinned, belted, and shaped by status rather than tailored like modern clothes."
    },
    "material_world_scenes": [
        {
            "asset": "/assets/timeline/landmarks/03-431-bce/world-01.webp",
            "title": "Technology, science, and care",
            "description": "Bronze, iron, pottery, simple cranes, and shipbuilding sustain cities. Power still comes mainly from people, animals, wind, and water. Geometry, astronomy, inquiry into nature, and rational argument advance without modern measuring instruments or standardized experiments. Practitioners observe symptoms, diet, and seasons; healing sanctuaries and ritual treatment also remain common."
        },
        {
            "asset": "/assets/timeline/landmarks/03-431-bce/world-02.webp",
            "title": "Travel and communication",
            "description": "Walking and animals dominate on land. Sailing ships and triremes connect islands, ports, and colonies. Public speech, messengers, and handwritten letters carry news. Theatre, the civic square, and the banquet are major social media."
        },
        {
            "asset": "/assets/timeline/landmarks/03-431-bce/world-03.webp",
            "title": "Farming and food",
            "description": "Small farms, grain, vines, olives, goats, and sheep shape the diet; harvests remain vulnerable to weather and war."
        },
        {
            "asset": "/assets/timeline/landmarks/03-431-bce/world-04.webp",
            "title": "Clothing, women and men",
            "description": "Women and men drape wool or linen as chitons, peploi, and cloaks. Garments are pinned, belted, and shaped by status rather than tailored like modern clothes."
        }
    ],
    "intellectual_tradition": {
        "id": "platonism",
        "label": "Socratic and Platonic thought"
    },
    "period": {
        "id": "ancient",
        "label": "Antiquity"
    },
    "languages": [
        "grc",
        "en",
        "fr"
    ],
    "manifestations": [
        {
            "coverage": "complete",
            "file": "data/corpus/normalized/plato/phaedrus/representations/grc.ndjson",
            "language": "grc",
            "records": 53,
            "role": "original",
            "sha256": "5bd1e7e9adc97217c70106184ae220484549f5128a85008079096582de446091",
            "source_id": "perseus-plato-phaedrus-grc"
        },
        {
            "coverage": "complete",
            "file": "data/corpus/normalized/plato/phaedrus/representations/en.ndjson",
            "language": "en",
            "records": 53,
            "role": "historical_translation",
            "sha256": "332a397c46cf00b332851316b94a38efaa98d26f847f923e84803499f4b8fd0d",
            "source_id": "perseus-plato-phaedrus-en"
        },
        {
            "coverage": "complete",
            "file": "data/corpus/normalized/plato/phaedrus/representations/ai-generated/fr-gpt-5-6-sol-corpus-passage-translation-v1.ndjson",
            "generated_on": "2026-09-11",
            "language": "fr",
            "model": "gpt-5.6-sol",
            "official_status": "non_official",
            "prompt_version": "corpus-passage-translation-v1",
            "provider": "codex_subscription",
            "records": 53,
            "role": "ai_generated_translation_non_official",
            "sha256": "c31c02a32d09f4754215908cdc5f71844103df8a5d86355726e14dffbbea2324",
            "source_id": "prokopton42-codex-translation:gpt-5.6-sol:corpus-passage-translation-v1",
            "translation_type": "ai_generated_translation"
        },
        {
            "coverage": "complete",
            "file": "data/corpus/normalized/plato/phaedrus_fr_carrier/representations/fr.ndjson",
            "language": "fr",
            "records": 1,
            "role": "historical_translation",
            "sha256": "23b7d4c5c4eb89f61caeed948a7e761751acb0a4df2e253a45112be8a4c6c507",
            "source_id": "wikisource-cousin-phaedrus-fr-01"
        },
        {
            "coverage": "complete",
            "file": "data/corpus/normalized/plato/phaedrus_fr_carrier/representations/ai-generated/en-gpt-5-6-sol-corpus-passage-translation-v1.ndjson",
            "generated_on": "2026-09-11",
            "language": "en",
            "model": "gpt-5.6-sol",
            "official_status": "non_official",
            "prompt_version": "corpus-passage-translation-v1",
            "provider": "codex_subscription",
            "records": 1,
            "role": "ai_generated_translation_non_official",
            "sha256": "67585bf3bb56ad2c2f197d63412a44e15f5bfabbc79f5e96a9a448397bc64ee8",
            "source_id": "prokopton42-codex-translation:gpt-5.6-sol:corpus-passage-translation-v1",
            "translation_type": "ai_generated_translation"
        }
    ],
    "concepts": [
        {
            "id": "anger",
            "label": "Anger"
        },
        {
            "id": "beneficence",
            "label": "Beneficence"
        },
        {
            "id": "care_of_soul",
            "label": "Care of the soul"
        },
        {
            "id": "education",
            "label": "Education"
        },
        {
            "id": "family",
            "label": "Family"
        },
        {
            "id": "forms",
            "label": "Intelligible forms"
        },
        {
            "id": "fortune",
            "label": "Fortune"
        },
        {
            "id": "god",
            "label": "God"
        },
        {
            "id": "holiness",
            "label": "Holiness"
        },
        {
            "id": "justice",
            "label": "Justice"
        },
        {
            "id": "law",
            "label": "Law"
        },
        {
            "id": "love",
            "label": "Love"
        },
        {
            "id": "memory",
            "label": "Memory"
        },
        {
            "id": "nature",
            "label": "Nature"
        },
        {
            "id": "philosophical_eros",
            "label": "Philosophical eros"
        },
        {
            "id": "recollection",
            "label": "Recollection"
        },
        {
            "id": "rhetoric",
            "label": "Rhetoric"
        },
        {
            "id": "self_governance",
            "label": "Self-governance"
        },
        {
            "id": "sin",
            "label": "Sin"
        },
        {
            "id": "time",
            "label": "Time"
        },
        {
            "id": "war_and_peace",
            "label": "War and peace"
        },
        {
            "id": "wisdom",
            "label": "Wisdom"
        },
        {
            "id": "yi_rightness",
            "label": "Yi, fitting rightness"
        }
    ],
    "source_work_ids": [
        "plato.phaedrus",
        "plato.phaedrus_fr_carrier"
    ],
    "passages": 53,
    "word_count": 23263,
    "word_counts_by_language": {
        "en": 23263,
        "fr": 22820,
        "grc": 17029
    },
    "editorial_status": "gpt_5_6_semantic_draft_v1",
    "structure": {
        "citation_scheme": "plato-stephanus-page-v1",
        "kind": "native",
        "levels": [
            {
                "key": "stephanus_page",
                "label_fr": "Page Stephanus",
                "label_en": "Stephanus page"
            }
        ],
        "leaf_fr": "Passage",
        "leaf_en": "Passage"
    },
    "canonical_passage_id": "passage:plato.phaedrus:250",
    "canonical_ref": "250",
    "canonical_parent_ref": null,
    "canonical_parent_id": null,
    "representations": [
        {
            "language": "grc",
            "text": "ΣΩ. καθάπερ γὰρ εἴρηται, πᾶσα μὲν ἀνθρώπου ψυχὴ φύσει τεθέαται τὰ ὄντα, ἢ οὐκ ἂν ἦλθεν εἰς τόδε τὸ ζῷον· ἀναμιμνῄσκεσθαι δὲ ἐκ τῶνδε ἐκεῖνα οὐ ῥᾴδιον ἁπάσῃ, οὔτε ὅσαι βραχέως εἶδον τότε τἀκεῖ, οὔθʼ αἳ δεῦρο πεσοῦσαι ἐδυστύχησαν, ὥστε ὑπό τινων ὁμιλιῶν ἐπὶ τὸ ἄδικον τραπόμεναι λήθην ὧν τότε εἶδον ἱερῶν ἔχειν. ὀλίγαι δὴ λείπονται αἷς τὸ τῆς μνήμης ἱκανῶς πάρεστιν· αὗται δέ, ὅταν τι τῶν ἐκεῖ ὁμοίωμα ἴδωσιν, ἐκπλήττονται καὶ οὐκέτʼ ἐν αὑτῶν γίγνονται, ὃ δʼ ἔστι τὸ πάθος ἀγνοοῦσι διὰ τὸ μὴ ἱκανῶς διαισθάνεσθαι. δικαιοσύνης μὲν οὖν καὶ σωφροσύνης καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα τίμια ψυχαῖς οὐκ ἔνεστι φέγγος οὐδὲν ἐν τοῖς τῇδε ὁμοιώμασιν, ἀλλὰ διʼ ἀμυδρῶν ὀργάνων μόγις αὐτῶν καὶ ὀλίγοι ἐπὶ τὰς εἰκόνας ἰόντες θεῶνται τὸ τοῦ εἰκασθέντος γένος· κάλλος δὲ τότʼ ἦν ἰδεῖν λαμπρόν, ὅτε σὺν εὐδαίμονι χορῷ μακαρίαν ὄψιν τε καὶ θέαν, ἑπόμενοι μετὰ μὲν Διὸς ἡμεῖς, ἄλλοι δὲ μετʼ ἄλλου θεῶν, εἶδόν τε καὶ ἐτελοῦντο τῶν τελετῶν ἣν θέμις λέγειν μακαριωτάτην, ἣν ὠργιάζομεν ὁλόκληροι μὲν αὐτοὶ ὄντες καὶ ἀπαθεῖς κακῶν ὅσα ἡμᾶς ἐν ὑστέρῳ χρόνῳ ὑπέμενεν, ὁλόκληρα δὲ καὶ ἁπλᾶ καὶ ἀτρεμῆ καὶ εὐδαίμονα φάσματα μυούμενοί τε καὶ ἐποπτεύοντες ἐν αὐγῇ καθαρᾷ, καθαροὶ ὄντες καὶ ἀσήμαντοι τούτου ὃ νῦν δὴ σῶμα περιφέροντες ὀνομάζομεν, ὀστρέου τρόπον δεδεσμευμένοι. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν μνήμῃ κεχαρίσθω, διʼ ἣν πόθῳ τῶν τότε νῦν μακρότερα εἴρηται· περὶ δὲ κάλλους, ὥσπερ εἴπομεν, μετʼ ἐκείνων τε ἔλαμπεν ὄν, δεῦρό τʼ ἐλθόντες κατειλήφαμεν αὐτὸ διὰ τῆς ἐναργεστάτης αἰσθήσεως τῶν ἡμετέρων στίλβον ἐναργέστατα. ὄψις γὰρ ἡμῖν ὀξυτάτη τῶν διὰ τοῦ σώματος ἔρχεται αἰσθήσεων, ᾗ φρόνησις οὐχ ὁρᾶται—δεινοὺς γὰρ ἂν παρεῖχεν ἔρωτας, εἴ τι τοιοῦτον ἑαυτῆς ἐναργὲς εἴδωλον παρείχετο εἰς ὄψιν ἰόν—καὶ τἆλλα ὅσα ἐραστά· νῦν δὲ κάλλος μόνον ταύτην ἔσχε μοῖραν, ὥστʼ ἐκφανέστατον εἶναι καὶ ἐρασμιώτατον.",
            "edition": "perseus-plato-phaedrus-grc",
            "source_id": "perseus-plato-phaedrus-grc",
            "translation_type": "original"
        },
        {
            "language": "en",
            "text": "Socrates. For, as has been said, every soul of man has by the law of nature beheld the realities, otherwise it would not have entered into a human being, but it is not easy for all souls to gain from earthly things a recollection of those realities, either for those which had but a brief view of them at that earlier time, or for those which, after falling to earth, were so unfortunate as to be turned toward unrighteousness through some evil communications and to have forgotten the holy sights they once saw. Few then are left which retain an adequate recollection of them; but these when they see here any likeness of the things of that other world, are stricken with amazement and can no longer control themselves; but they do not understand their condition, because they do not clearly perceive. Now in the earthly copies of justice and temperance and the other ideas which are precious to souls there is no light, but only a few, approaching the images through the darkling organs of sense, behold in them the nature of that which they imitate, and these few do this with difficulty. But at that former time they saw beauty shining in brightness, when, with a blessed company—we following in the train of Zeus, and others in that of some other god—they saw the blessed sight and vision and were initiated into that which is rightly called the most blessed of mysteries, which we celebrated in a state of perfection, when we were without experience of the evils which awaited us in the time to come, being permitted as initiates to the sight of perfect and simple and calm and happy apparitions, which we saw in the pure light, being ourselves pure and not entombed in this which we carry about with us and call the body, in which we are imprisoned like an oyster in its shell. So much, then, in honor of memory, on account of which I have now spoken at some length, through yearning for the joys of that other time. But beauty, as I said before, shone in brilliance among those visions; and since we came to earth we have found it shining most clearly through the clearest of our senses; for sight is the sharpest of the physical senses, though wisdom is not seen by it, for wisdom would arouse terrible love, if such a clear image of it were granted as would come through sight, and the same is true of the other lovely realities; but beauty alone has this privilege, and therefore it is most clearly seen and loveliest.",
            "translator": "Benjamin Jowett",
            "edition": "perseus-plato-phaedrus-en",
            "source_id": "perseus-plato-phaedrus-en",
            "translation_type": "historical_human_translation"
        },
        {
            "language": "fr",
            "text": "Socrate. Car, comme nous l’avons dit, toute âme humaine a, par la loi de la nature, contemplé les réalités ; sans quoi elle ne serait pas entrée dans un être humain. Mais il n’est pas facile à toutes les âmes de tirer des choses terrestres le souvenir de ces réalités, soit parce qu’elles ne les ont que brièvement aperçues en ce temps antérieur, soit parce qu’après leur chute sur la terre elles ont eu le malheur d’être détournées vers l’injustice par de mauvaises fréquentations et d’oublier les spectacles sacrés qu’elles avaient vus autrefois. Il en reste donc peu qui en conservent un souvenir suffisant. Mais lorsqu’elles voient ici quelque ressemblance avec les choses de cet autre monde, elles sont frappées de stupeur et ne peuvent plus se maîtriser ; elles ne comprennent cependant pas leur état, parce que leur perception manque de clarté.\n\nDans les copies terrestres de la justice, de la tempérance et des autres idées précieuses aux âmes, il n’existe aucune lumière. Seuls quelques hommes, s’approchant des images par l’intermédiaire d’organes des sens obscurcis, contemplent en elles la nature de ce qu’elles imitent, et ce petit nombre n’y parvient qu’avec difficulté. Mais en ce temps antérieur, ils virent la beauté briller de tout son éclat lorsque, au sein d’une compagnie bienheureuse, nous à la suite de Zeus, les autres à celle d’un autre dieu, ils contemplèrent la bienheureuse apparition offerte à leur vue et furent initiés à ce que l’on nomme à juste titre le plus bienheureux des mystères. Nous célébrions ce mystère dans un état de perfection, sans avoir l’expérience des maux qui nous attendaient dans le temps à venir. Il nous était permis, en qualité d’initiés, de contempler des apparitions parfaites, simples, calmes et heureuses, que nous voyions dans une pure lumière, étant nous-mêmes purs et non ensevelis dans cette chose que nous transportons à présent avec nous et que nous appelons le corps, où nous sommes emprisonnés comme une huître dans sa coquille.\n\nQue ces paroles soient donc offertes en l’honneur de la mémoire, qui m’a fait parler maintenant assez longuement sous l’effet du désir des joies de ce temps passé. Mais la beauté, comme je le disais auparavant, resplendissait parmi ces visions ; et depuis notre venue sur terre, nous l’avons trouvée brillant avec la plus grande clarté par l’intermédiaire du plus clair de nos sens. Car la vue est le plus aigu des sens corporels, bien que la sagesse ne soit pas perçue par elle. La sagesse susciterait de terribles amours si une image aussi claire d’elle nous était accordée et nous parvenait par la vue ; il en va de même pour les autres réalités dignes d’amour. Mais la beauté seule a reçu ce privilège, et c’est pourquoi elle est la plus manifeste et la plus aimable.",
            "translator": "Codex gpt-5.6-sol",
            "edition": "Prokopton42 non-official AI translation, 2026-09-11",
            "source_id": "prokopton42-codex-translation:gpt-5.6-sol:corpus-passage-translation-v1",
            "translation_type": "ai_generated_translation",
            "official_status": "non_official",
            "generation_model": "gpt-5.6-sol"
        }
    ],
    "content_checksum": "29769e253e426770cacbed486cdafdb347954353c644ae2c20931438c04cbc64"
}