{ "schema": "prokopton42-public-passage-v1", "id": "plato.phaedrus", "canonical_url": "https://prokopton42.com/en/works/plato/phaedrus/reference-261/", "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": "care_of_soul", "label": "Care of the soul" }, { "id": "education", "label": "Education" }, { "id": "ether_field", "label": "Ether and field" }, { "id": "family", "label": "Family" }, { "id": "friendship", "label": "Friendship" }, { "id": "justice", "label": "Justice" }, { "id": "law", "label": "Law" }, { "id": "mindfulness", "label": "Mindfulness" }, { "id": "nature", "label": "Nature" }, { "id": "philosophical_eros", "label": "Philosophical eros" }, { "id": "philosophical_training", "label": "Philosophical training" }, { "id": "reason", "label": "Reason" }, { "id": "rhetoric", "label": "Rhetoric" }, { "id": "roles", "label": "Roles and relationships" }, { "id": "sin", "label": "Sin" }, { "id": "time", "label": "Time" }, { "id": "wisdom", "label": "Wisdom" } ], "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:261", "canonical_ref": "261", "canonical_parent_ref": null, "canonical_parent_id": null, "representations": [ { "language": "grc", "text": "ΦΑΙ. τούτων δεῖ τῶν λόγων, ὦ Σώκρατες· ἀλλὰ δεῦρο αὐτοὺς παράγων ἐξέταζε τί καὶ πῶς λέγουσιν. ΣΩ. πάριτε δή, θρέμματα γενναῖα, καλλίπαιδά τε Φαῖδρον πείθετε ὡς ἐὰν μὴ ἱκανῶς φιλοσοφήσῃ, οὐδὲ ἱκανός ποτε λέγειν ἔσται περὶ οὐδενός. ἀποκρινέσθω δὴ ὁ Φαῖδρος. ΦΑΙ. ἐρωτᾶτε. ΣΩ. ἆρʼ οὖν οὐ τὸ μὲν ὅλον ἡ ῥητορικὴ ἂν εἴη τέχνη ψυχαγωγία τις διὰ λόγων, οὐ μόνον ἐν δικαστηρίοις καὶ ὅσοι ἄλλοι δημόσιοι σύλλογοι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν ἰδίοις, ἡ αὐτὴ σμικρῶν τε καὶ μεγάλων πέρι, καὶ οὐδὲν ἐντιμότερον τό γε ὀρθὸν περὶ σπουδαῖα ἢ περὶ φαῦλα γιγνόμενον; ἢ πῶς σὺ ταῦτʼ ἀκήκοας; ΦΑΙ. οὐ μὰ τὸν Δίʼ οὐ παντάπασιν οὕτως, ἀλλὰ μάλιστα μέν πως περὶ τὰς δίκας λέγεταί τε καὶ γράφεται τέχνῃ, λέγεται δὲ καὶ περὶ δημηγορίας· ἐπὶ πλέον δὲ οὐκ ἀκήκοα. ΣΩ. ἀλλʼ ἦ τὰς Νέστορος καὶ Ὀδυσσέως τέχνας μόνον περὶ λόγων ἀκήκοας, ἃς ἐν Ἰλίῳ σχολάζοντες συνεγραψάτην, τῶν δὲ Παλαμήδους ἀνήκοος γέγονας; ΦΑΙ. καὶ ναὶ μὰ Δίʼ ἔγωγε τῶν Νέστορος, εἰ μὴ Γοργίαν Νέστορά τινα κατασκευάζεις, ἤ τινα Θρασύμαχόν τε καὶ Θεόδωρον Ὀδυσσέα. ΣΩ. ἴσως. ἀλλὰ γὰρ τούτους ἐῶμεν· σὺ δʼ εἰπέ, ἐν δικαστηρίοις οἱ ἀντίδικοι τί δρῶσιν; οὐκ ἀντιλέγουσιν μέντοι; ἢ τί φήσομεν; ΦΑΙ. τοῦτʼ αὐτό. ΣΩ. περὶ τοῦ δικαίου τε καὶ ἀδίκου; ΦΑΙ. ναί. ΣΩ. οὐκοῦν ὁ τέχνῃ τοῦτο δρῶν ποιήσει φανῆναι τὸ αὐτὸ τοῖς αὐτοῖς τοτὲ μὲν δίκαιον, ὅταν δὲ βούληται, ἄδικον; ΦΑΙ. τί μήν; ΣΩ. καὶ ἐν δημηγορίᾳ δὴ τῇ πόλει δοκεῖν τὰ αὐτὰ τοτὲ μὲν ἀγαθά, τοτὲ δʼ αὖ τἀναντία; ΦΑΙ. οὕτως. ΣΩ. τὸν οὖν Ἐλεατικὸν Παλαμήδην λέγοντα οὐκ ἴσμεν τέχνῃ, ὥστε φαίνεσθαι τοῖς ἀκούουσι τὰ αὐτὰ ὅμοια καὶ ἀνόμοια, καὶ ἓν καὶ πολλά, μένοντά τε αὖ καὶ φερόμενα; ΦΑΙ. μάλα γε. ΣΩ. οὐκ ἄρα μόνον περὶ δικαστήριά τέ ἐστιν ἡ ἀντιλογικὴ καὶ περὶ δημηγορίαν, ἀλλʼ, ὡς ἔοικε, περὶ πάντα τὰ λεγόμενα μία τις τέχνη, εἴπερ ἔστιν, αὕτη ἂν εἴη, ᾗ τις οἷός τʼ ἔσται πᾶν παντὶ ὁμοιοῦν τῶν δυνατῶν καὶ οἷς δυνατόν, καὶ ἄλλου ὁμοιοῦντος καὶ ἀποκρυπτομένου εἰς φῶς ἄγειν. ΦΑΙ. πῶς δὴ τὸ τοιοῦτον λέγεις; ΣΩ. τῇδε δοκῶ ζητοῦσιν φανεῖσθαι. ἀπάτη πότερον ἐν πολὺ διαφέρουσι γίγνεται μᾶλλον ἢ ὀλίγον;", "edition": "perseus-plato-phaedrus-grc", "source_id": "perseus-plato-phaedrus-grc", "translation_type": "original" }, { "language": "en", "text": "Phaedrus. We have need of these arguments, Socrates. Bring them here and examine their words and their meaning. Socrates. Come here, then, noble creatures, and persuade the fair young Phaedrus that unless he pay proper attention to philosophy he will never be able to speak properly about anything. And let Phaedrus answer. Phaedrus. Ask your questions. Socrates. Is not rhetoric in its entire nature an art which leads the soul by means of words, not only in law courts and the various other public assemblages, but in private companies as well? And is it not the same when concerned with small things as with great, and, properly speaking, no more to be esteemed in important than in trifling matters? Is this what you have heard? Phaedrus. No, by Zeus, not that exactly; but the art of speaking and writing is exercised chiefly in lawsuits, and that of speaking also in public assemblies; and I never heard of any further uses. Socrates. Then you have heard only of the treatises on rhetoric by Nestor and Odysseus, which they wrote when they had nothing to do at Troy , and you have not heard of that by Palamedes? Phaedrus. Nor of Nestor’s either, unless you are disguising Gorgias under the name of Nestor and Thrasymachus or Theodorus under that of Odysseus. Socrates. Perhaps I am. However, never mind them; but tell me, what do the parties in a lawsuit do in court? Do they not contend in speech, or what shall we say they do? Phaedrus. Exactly that. Socrates. About the just and the unjust? Phaedrus. Yes. Socrates. Then he whose speaking is an art will make the same thing appear to the same persons at one time just and at another, if he wishes, unjust? Phaedrus. Certainly. Socrates. And in political speaking he will make the same things seem to the State at one time good and at another the opposite? Phaedrus. Just so. Socrates. Do we not know that the Eleatic Palamedes (Zeno) has such an art of speaking that the same things appear to his hearers to be alike and unlike, one and many, stationary and in motion? Phaedrus. Certainly. Socrates. Then the art of contention in speech is not confined to courts and political gatherings, but apparently, if it is an art at all, it would be one and the same in all kinds of speaking, the art by which a man will be able to produce a resemblance between all things between which it can be produced, and to bring to the light the resemblances produced and disguised by anyone else. Phaedrus. What do you mean by that? Socrates. I think it will be plain if we examine the matter in this way. Is deception easier when there is much difference between things or when there is little?", "translator": "Benjamin Jowett", "edition": "perseus-plato-phaedrus-en", "source_id": "perseus-plato-phaedrus-en", "translation_type": "historical_human_translation" }, { "language": "fr", "text": "Phèdre. Nous avons besoin de ces arguments, Socrate. Fais-les venir ici et examine leurs paroles et leur sens.\n\nSocrate. Venez donc, nobles créatures, et persuadez le beau jeune Phèdre que, s’il ne prête pas l’attention requise à la philosophie, il ne sera jamais capable de parler convenablement de quoi que ce soit. Et que Phèdre réponde.\n\nPhèdre. Pose tes questions.\n\nSocrate. La rhétorique n’est-elle pas, par toute sa nature, un art qui conduit l’âme au moyen des paroles, non seulement dans les tribunaux et les diverses autres assemblées publiques, mais aussi dans les réunions privées? Et n’est-elle pas la même lorsqu’elle s’occupe des petites choses et des grandes, sans être, à proprement parler, plus estimable dans les affaires importantes que dans les affaires insignifiantes? Est-ce là ce que tu as entendu?\n\nPhèdre. Non, par Zeus, pas exactement. L’art de parler et d’écrire s’exerce principalement dans les procès, et celui de parler également dans les assemblées publiques; je n’ai jamais entendu parler d’usages plus étendus.\n\nSocrate. Tu n’as donc entendu parler que des traités de rhétorique de Nestor et d’Ulysse, qu’ils écrivirent lorsqu’ils n’avaient rien à faire à Troie, et tu n’as pas entendu parler de celui de Palamède?\n\nPhèdre. Pas davantage de celui de Nestor, à moins que tu ne dissimules Gorgias sous le nom de Nestor, et Thrasymaque ou Théodore sous celui d’Ulysse.\n\nSocrate. Peut-être. Mais laissons-les. Dis-moi plutôt: que font au tribunal les parties à un procès? Ne s’affrontent-elles pas en paroles, ou comment dirons-nous ce qu’elles font?\n\nPhèdre. Exactement cela.\n\nSocrate. À propos du juste et de l’injuste?\n\nPhèdre. Oui.\n\nSocrate. Alors celui dont la parole relève d’un art fera paraître la même chose aux mêmes personnes tantôt juste et tantôt, s’il le veut, injuste?\n\nPhèdre. Certainement.\n\nSocrate. Et dans le discours politique, il fera paraître à l’État les mêmes choses tantôt bonnes et tantôt contraires?\n\nPhèdre. Précisément.\n\nSocrate. Ne savons-nous pas que le Palamède éléate, Zénon, possède un art de parler tel que les mêmes choses paraissent à ses auditeurs semblables et dissemblables, unes et multiples, immobiles et en mouvement?\n\nPhèdre. Certainement.\n\nSocrate. L’art de la controverse verbale n’est donc pas limité aux tribunaux et aux assemblées politiques; mais apparemment, s’il est véritablement un art, il doit être un et identique dans toutes les espèces de discours: l’art par lequel un homme sera capable de produire une ressemblance entre toutes les choses entre lesquelles on peut en produire une, et de mettre en lumière les ressemblances produites et dissimulées par quelqu’un d’autre.\n\nPhèdre. Que veux-tu dire par là?\n\nSocrate. Je pense que cela deviendra clair si nous examinons la question ainsi. La tromperie est-elle plus facile lorsqu’il existe une grande différence entre les choses, ou lorsqu’il en existe une petite?", "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": "e44fd3d816ec656f3f72f4241edcc1a520ed7a37f002c54a556db2fac05ba1d3" }