{ "schema": "prokopton42-public-passage-v1", "id": "plato.phaedrus", "canonical_url": "https://prokopton42.com/en/works/plato/phaedrus/reference-266/", "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": "care_of_soul", "label": "Care of the soul" }, { "id": "dialectic", "label": "Dialectic" }, { "id": "ether_field", "label": "Ether and field" }, { "id": "faith", "label": "Faith" }, { "id": "family", "label": "Family" }, { "id": "forms", "label": "Intelligible forms" }, { "id": "god", "label": "God" }, { "id": "justice", "label": "Justice" }, { "id": "knowledge", "label": "Knowledge" }, { "id": "love", "label": "Love" }, { "id": "messiah", "label": "Messiah" }, { "id": "nature", "label": "Nature" }, { "id": "philosophical_eros", "label": "Philosophical eros" }, { "id": "reason", "label": "Reason" }, { "id": "rhetoric", "label": "Rhetoric" }, { "id": "sin", "label": "Sin" }, { "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:266", "canonical_ref": "266", "canonical_parent_ref": null, "canonical_parent_id": null, "representations": [ { "language": "grc", "text": "ΣΩ. τὸ πάλιν κατʼ εἴδη δύνασθαι διατέμνειν κατʼ ἄρθρα ᾗ πέφυκεν, καὶ μὴ ἐπιχειρεῖν καταγνύναι μέρος μηδέν, κακοῦ μαγείρου τρόπῳ χρώμενον· ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ἄρτι τὼ λόγω τὸ μὲν ἄφρον τῆς διανοίας ἕν τι κοινῇ εἶδος ἐλαβέτην, ὥσπερ δὲ σώματος ἐξ ἑνὸς διπλᾶ καὶ ὁμώνυμα πέφυκε, σκαιά, τὰ δὲ δεξιὰ κληθέντα, οὕτω καὶ τὸ τῆς παρανοίας ὡς ἓν ἐν ἡμῖν πεφυκὸς εἶδος ἡγησαμένω τὼ λόγω, ὁ μὲν τὸ ἐπʼ ἀριστερὰ τεμνόμενος μέρος, πάλιν τοῦτο τέμνων οὐκ ἐπανῆκεν πρὶν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐφευρὼν ὀνομαζόμενον σκαιόν τινα ἔρωτα ἐλοιδόρησεν μάλʼ ἐν δίκῃ, ὁ δʼ εἰς τὰ ἐν δεξιᾷ τῆς μανίας ἀγαγὼν ἡμᾶς, ὁμώνυμον μὲν ἐκείνῳ, θεῖον δʼ αὖ τινα ἔρωτα ἐφευρὼν καὶ προτεινάμενος ἐπῄνεσεν ὡς μεγίστων αἴτιον ἡμῖν ἀγαθῶν. ΦΑΙ. ἀληθέστατα λέγεις. ΣΩ. τούτων δὴ ἔγωγε αὐτός τε ἐραστής, ὦ Φαῖδρε, τῶν διαιρέσεων καὶ συναγωγῶν, ἵνα οἷός τε ὦ λέγειν τε καὶ φρονεῖν· ἐάν τέ τινʼ ἄλλον ἡγήσωμαι δυνατὸν εἰς ἓν καὶ ἐπὶ πολλὰ πεφυκόθʼ ὁρᾶν, τοῦτον διώκω κατόπισθε μετʼ ἴχνιον ὥστε θεοῖο. καὶ μέντοι καὶ τοὺς δυναμένους αὐτὸ δρᾶν εἰ μὲν ὀρθῶς ἢ μὴ προσαγορεύω, θεὸς οἶδε, καλῶ δὲ οὖν μέχρι τοῦδε διαλεκτικούς. τὰ δὲ νῦν παρὰ σοῦ τε καὶ Λυσίου μαθόντας εἰπὲ τί χρὴ καλεῖν· ἢ τοῦτο ἐκεῖνό ἐστιν ἡ λόγων τέχνη, ᾗ Θρασύμαχός τε καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι χρώμενοι σοφοὶ μὲν αὐτοὶ λέγειν γεγόνασιν, ἄλλους τε ποιοῦσιν, οἳ ἂν δωροφορεῖν αὐτοῖς ὡς βασιλεῦσιν ἐθέλωσιν; ΦΑΙ. βασιλικοὶ μὲν ἇνδρες, οὐ μὲν δὴ ἐπιστήμονές γε ὧν ἐρωτᾷς. ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν τὸ εἶδος ὀρθῶς ἔμοιγε δοκεῖς καλεῖν, διαλεκτικὸν καλῶν· τὸ δὲ ῥητορικὸν δοκεῖ μοι διαφεύγειν ἔθʼ ἡμᾶς. ΣΩ. πῶς φῄς; καλόν πού τι ἂν εἴη, ὃ τούτων ἀπολειφθὲν ὅμως τέχνῃ λαμβάνεται; πάντως δʼ οὐκ ἀτιμαστέον αὐτὸ σοί τε καὶ ἐμοί, λεκτέον δὲ τί μέντοι καὶ ἔστι τὸ λειπόμενον τῆς ῥητορικῆς. ΦΑΙ. καὶ μάλα που συχνά, ὦ Σώκρατες, τά γʼ ἐν τοῖς βιβλίοις τοῖς περὶ λόγων τέχνης γεγραμμένοις. ΣΩ. καὶ καλῶς γε ὑπέμνησας. προοίμιον μὲν οἶμαι πρῶτον ὡς δεῖ τοῦ λόγου λέγεσθαι ἐν ἀρχῇ· ταῦτα λέγεις —ἦ γάρ; —τὰ κομψὰ τῆς τέχνης; ΦΑΙ. ναί. ΣΩ. δεύτερον δὲ δὴ διήγησίν τινα μαρτυρίας τʼ ἐπʼ αὐτῇ, τρίτον τεκμήρια , τέταρτον εἰκότα · καὶ πίστωσιν οἶμαι καὶ ἐπιπίστωσιν λέγειν τόν γε βέλτιστον λογοδαίδαλον Βυζάντιον ἄνδρα. ΦΑΙ. τὸν χρηστὸν λέγεις Θεόδωρον;", "edition": "perseus-plato-phaedrus-grc", "source_id": "perseus-plato-phaedrus-grc", "translation_type": "original" }, { "language": "en", "text": "Socrates. That of dividing things again by classes, where the natural joints are, and not trying to break any part, after the manner of a bad carver. As our two discourses just now assumed one common principle, unreason, and then, just as the body, which is one, is naturally divisible into two, right and left, with parts called by the same names, so our two discourses conceived of madness as naturally one principle within us, and one discourse, cutting off the left-hand part, continued to divide this until it found among its parts a sort of left-handed love, which it very justly reviled, but the other discourse, leading us to the right-hand part of madness, found a love having the same name as the first, but divine, which it held up to view and praised as the author of our greatest blessings. Phaedrus. Very true. Socrates. Now I myself, Phaedrus, am a lover of these processes of division and bringing together, as aids to speech and thought; and if I think any other man is able to see things that can naturally be collected into one and divided into many, him I follow after and walk in his footsteps as if he were a god. Home. Od. 5.193 ὃ δ’ ἔπειτα μετ’ ἴχνια βαῖνε θεοῖο , and he walked in the footsteps of the god. And whether the name I give to those who can do this is right or wrong, God knows, but I have called them hitherto dialecticians. But tell me now what name to give to those who are taught by you and Lysias, or is this that art of speech by means of which Thrasymachus and the rest have become able speakers themselves, and make others so, if they are willing to pay them royal tribute? Phaedrus. They are royal men, but not trained in the matters about which you ask. I think you give this method the right name when you call it dialectic; but it seems to me that rhetoric still escapes us. Socrates. What do you mean? Can there be anything of importance, which is not included in these processes and yet comes under the head of art? Certainly you and I must not neglect it, but must say what it is that remains of rhetoric. Phaedrus. A great many things remain, Socrates, the things that are written in the books on rhetoric. Socrates. Thank you for reminding me. You mean that there must be an introduction first, at the beginning of the discourse; these are the things you mean, are they not?—the niceties of the art. Phaedrus. Yes. Socrates. And the narrative must come second with the testimony after it, and third the proofs, and fourth the probabilities; and confirmation and further confirmation are mentioned, I believe, by the man from Byzantium , that most excellent artist in words. Phaedrus. You mean the worthy Theodorus?", "translator": "Benjamin Jowett", "edition": "perseus-plato-phaedrus-en", "source_id": "perseus-plato-phaedrus-en", "translation_type": "historical_human_translation" }, { "language": "fr", "text": "Socrate. Celui qui consiste à diviser de nouveau les choses selon leurs espèces, là où se trouvent leurs articulations naturelles, sans essayer d’en briser aucune partie, à la manière d’un mauvais découpeur. Nos deux discours de tout à l’heure ont posé un principe commun, la déraison. Ensuite, de même que le corps, qui est un, se divise naturellement en deux, droite et gauche, avec des parties portant les mêmes noms, nos deux discours ont conçu la folie comme un principe naturellement un en nous. L’un des discours, détachant la partie gauche, a continué de la diviser jusqu’à trouver parmi ses parties une sorte d’amour gaucher, qu’il a très justement injurié. L’autre discours, nous conduisant vers la partie droite de la folie, a découvert un amour portant le même nom que le premier, mais divin; il l’a exposé à nos regards et loué comme l’auteur de nos plus grands bienfaits.\n\nPhèdre. C’est très vrai.\n\nSocrate. Pour ma part, Phèdre, je suis amoureux de ces procédés de division et de réunion, qui aident à parler et à penser. Si je crois qu’un autre homme est capable de voir les choses qui peuvent naturellement être rassemblées en une seule et divisées en plusieurs, je le suis et marche sur ses traces comme s’il était un dieu. Hom. Od. 5.193 ὃ δ’ ἔπειτα μετ’ ἴχνια βαῖνε θεοῖο, «et il marcha sur les traces du dieu». Quant à savoir si le nom que je donne à ceux qui savent faire cela est juste ou non, Dieu le sait; mais jusqu’à présent je les ai appelés dialecticiens. Dis-moi maintenant quel nom donner à ceux que Lysias et toi instruisez. Ou bien est-ce là cet art de la parole grâce auquel Thrasymaque et les autres sont eux-mêmes devenus d’habiles orateurs et rendent tels les autres, s’ils consentent à leur payer un tribut royal?\n\nPhèdre. Ce sont des hommes royaux, mais ils ne sont pas exercés aux matières sur lesquelles tu m’interroges. Je pense que tu donnes à cette méthode son nom juste lorsque tu l’appelles dialectique; mais il me semble que la rhétorique nous échappe encore.\n\nSocrate. Que veux-tu dire? Peut-il exister quelque chose d’important qui ne soit pas inclus dans ces procédés et qui relève pourtant de l’art? Toi et moi ne devons certainement pas le négliger; nous devons dire ce qui reste de la rhétorique.\n\nPhèdre. Il reste un grand nombre de choses, Socrate, celles qui sont écrites dans les livres de rhétorique.\n\nSocrate. Merci de me les rappeler. Tu veux dire qu’il doit d’abord y avoir un exorde, au début du discours. Voilà les choses que tu veux dire, n’est-ce pas, les raffinements de l’art?\n\nPhèdre. Oui.\n\nSocrate. Et la narration doit venir en second, suivie du témoignage; troisièmement viennent les preuves, quatrièmement les vraisemblances. La confirmation et la confirmation supplémentaire sont également mentionnées, je crois, par l’homme de Byzance, ce très excellent artiste des mots.\n\nPhèdre. Tu veux parler du digne Théodore?", "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": "51f86d374a3290578319e838cca1e21cff50e575dec77d5f9567448c254a6744" }