L’Orateur Passage 41

itaque ut ego, cum a nostro Catone laudabar, vel reprehendi me a ceteris facile patiebar, sic Isocrates videtur testimonio Platonis aliorum iudicia debere contemnere. Est enim, ut scis, quasi in extrema pagina Phaedri his ipsis verbis loquens Socrates: Adulescens etiam nunc, o Phaedre, Isocrates est, sed quid de illo augurer libet dicere. Quid tandem? inquit ille. Maiore mihi ingenio videtur esse quam ut cum orationibus Lysiae comparetur, praeterea ad virtutem maior indoles; ut minime mirum futurum sit si, cum aetate processerit, aut in hoc orationum genere cui nunc studet tantum quantum pueris reliquis praestet omnibus qui umquam orationes attigerunt aut, si contentus his non fuerit, divino aliquo animi motu maiora concupiscat; inest enim natura philosophia in huius viri mente quaedam.

Accordingly, just as I, when praised by our Cato, could readily endure criticism from everyone else, so Isocrates, it seems, ought on Plato's testimony to disregard the judgments of others. For, as you know, near the very end of the Phaedrus Socrates speaks in these very words: 'Isocrates is still young, Phaedrus, but I should like to say what I foresee for him.' 'What, then?' the other asks. 'He seems to me to possess too great a talent to be compared with the speeches of Lysias, and in addition he has a greater natural disposition toward virtue. It will therefore be no surprise if, as he advances in age, he surpasses in the kind of speeches he now pursues all others who have ever touched oratory as much as grown men surpass boys; or, if he is not content with these, if some divine impulse of mind makes him desire greater things. For there is by nature a certain philosophy in this man's mind.'

Ainsi, lorsque notre Caton me louait, je supportais aisément les critiques des autres; de même, Isocrate semble avoir dû mépriser les jugements d’autrui sur le témoignage de Platon. Comme tu le sais, Socrate prononce presque à la dernière page du Phèdre ces paroles mêmes: «Isocrate est encore jeune, Phèdre, mais je veux dire ce que je présage de lui.» «Quoi donc?» demande Phèdre. «Son talent me paraît trop grand pour qu’on le compare aux discours de Lysias, et il possède en outre de plus hautes dispositions pour la vertu. Il ne serait donc nullement étonnant qu’en avançant en âge, soit il surpassât dans le genre de discours qu’il cultive aujourd’hui tous les autres comme des enfants, tous ceux qui jamais touchèrent aux discours; soit, s’il n’en était pas satisfait, un mouvement divin de l’âme lui inspirât de plus hautes ambitions. Car l’esprit de cet homme contient naturellement une certaine philosophie.»