ΕΥΔΟΞΑ ΑΓΝΩΣΤΑ ΚΑΤΑΓΕΛΑΣΤΑ
“I consider facility with poetry the greatest part of a man’s education, that he should be able to understand what the poets have said correctly or incorrectly and to know how to analyze them and provide an explanation when questioned.”
ἡγοῦμαι, ἔφη, ὦ Σώκρατες, ἐγὼ ἀνδρὶ παιδείας μέγιστον μέρος εἶναι περὶ ἐπῶν δεινὸν εἶναι: ἔστιν δὲ τοῦτο τὰ ὑπὸ τῶν ποιητῶν λεγόμενα οἷόν τ᾽ εἶναι συνιέναι ἅ τε ὀρθῶς πεποίηται καὶ ἃ μή, καὶ ἐπίστασθαι διελεῖν τε καὶ ἐρωτώμενον λόγον δοῦναι.
“Love is the name for the desire and pursuit of that oneness, that ancient nature we shared when we were whole.”
τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ αἴτιον, ὅτι ἡ ἀρχαία φύσις ἡμῶν ἦν αὕτη καὶ ἦμεν ὅλοι: τοῦ ὅλου οὖν τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ καὶ διώξει ἔρως ὄνομα
Yes, the translation isn’t quite literal, but the day has inspired.
“The businessman will seem to make money for someone besides himself, for you, the man adept at speaking and persuading the masses.”
ὁ δὲ χρηματιστὴς οὗτος ἄλλῳ ἀναφανήσεται χρηματιζόμενος καὶ οὐχ αὑτῷ, ἀλλὰ σοὶ τῷ δυναμένῳ λέγειν καὶ πείθειν τὰ πλήθη.
So Plato has Gorgias say. (A man who (fatefully) persuaded the Athenians to take some interest in Sicily.)
“Is something loved by the gods because it is holy or holy because it is loved?”
ἆρα τὸ ὅσιον ὅτι ὅσιόν ἐστιν φιλεῖται ὑπὸ τῶν θεῶν, ἢ ὅτι φιλεῖται ὅσιόν ἐστιν
Yeah, this line gets its own Wikipedia page.
Here’s the full text.
“Kosmos is: a city well-peopled, a body’s beauty, a soul’s wisdom, virtue for a deed and the truth of a word.”
(1) Κόσμος πόλει μὲν εὐανδρία, σώματι δὲ κάλλος, ψυχῆι δὲ
σοφία, πράγματι δὲ ἀρετή, λόγωι δὲ ἀλήθεια·
“Kosmos is: a city well-peopled, a body’s beauty, a soul’s wisdom, virtue for a deed and the truth of a word.”
Yes, defense of that Helen.
Gorgias of Leontini, gorgeous with words.
(He shows up in Plato’s dialogue named for him: The full text)