309

Greek text

[309a] Ἑταῖρος:
πόθεν, ὦ Σώκρατες, φαίνῃ; ἢ δῆλα δὴ ὅτι ἀπὸ κυνηγεσίου τοῦ περὶ τὴν Ἀλκιβιάδου ὥραν; καὶ μήν μοι καὶ πρῴην ἰδόντι καλὸς μὲν ἐφαίνετο ἀνὴρ ἔτι, ἀνὴρ μέντοι, ὦ Σώκρατες, ὥς γ᾽ ἐν αὐτοῖς ἡμῖν εἰρῆσθαι, καὶ πώγωνος ἤδη ὑποπιμπλάμενος.
Σωκράτης:
εἶτα τί τοῦτο; οὐ σὺ μέντοι Ὁμήρου ἐπαινέτης εἶ, [309b] ὃς ἔφη χαριεστάτην ἥβην εἶναι τοῦ <πρῶτον> ὑπηνήτου, ἣν νῦν Ἀλκιβιάδης ἔχει;
ET:
τί οὖν τὰ νῦν; ἦ παρ᾽ ἐκείνου φαίνῃ; καὶ πῶς πρός σε ὁ νεανίας διάκειται;
ΣΩ:
εὖ, ἔμοιγε ἔδοξεν, οὐχ ἥκιστα δὲ καὶ τῇ νῦν ἡμέρᾳ: καὶ γὰρ πολλὰ ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ εἶπε βοηθῶν ἐμοί, καὶ οὖν καὶ ἄρτι ἀπ᾽ ἐκείνου ἔρχομαι. ἄτοπον μέντοι τί σοι ἐθέλω εἰπεῖν: παρόντος γὰρ ἐκείνου, οὔτε προσεῖχον τὸν νοῦν, ἐπελανθανόμην τε αὐτοῦ θαμά. [309c]
ET:
καὶ τί ἂν γεγονὸς εἴη περὶ σὲ κἀκεῖνον τοσοῦτον πρᾶγμα; οὐ γὰρ δήπου τινὶ καλλίονι ἐνέτυχες ἄλλῳ ἔν γε τῇδε τῇ πόλει.
ΣΩ:
καὶ πολύ γε.
ET:
τί φῄς; ἀστῷ ἢ ξένῳ;
ΣΩ:
ξένῳ.
ET:
ποδαπῷ;
ΣΩ:
Ἀβδηρίτῃ.
ET:
καὶ οὕτω καλός τις ὁ ξένος ἔδοξέν σοι εἶναι, ὥστε τοῦ Κλεινίου ὑέος καλλίων σοι φανῆναι;
ΣΩ:
πῶς δ᾽ οὐ μέλλει, ὦ μακάριε, τὸ σοφώτατον κάλλιον φαίνεσθαι;
ET:
ἀλλ᾽ ἦ σοφῷ τινι ἡμῖν, ὦ Σώκρατες, ἐντυχὼν πάρει; [309d]
ΣΩ:
σοφωτάτῳ μὲν οὖν δήπου τῶν γε νῦν, εἴ σοι δοκεῖ σοφώτατος εἶναι Πρωταγόρας.
ET:
ὢ τί λέγεις; Πρωταγόρας ἐπιδεδήμηκεν;
ΣΩ:
τρίτην γε ἤδη ἡμέραν.
ET:
καὶ ἄρτι ἄρα ἐκείνῳ συγγεγονὼς ἥκεις;

from Burnet's (1903) Oxford Classical Text, courtesy of the Perseus Project

An original translation

Companion: Where have you been, Socrates? No wait – you’ve obviously been on the hunt for Alcibiades' youth. Well, when I saw him yesterday, he did look like a beautiful man, Socrates, but a man all the same – just between us – and his beard is already coming in.
Socrates: So what? Don't you approve of Homer, who says, 'the most delightful is the youth of the first beard-growth,' the very stage Alcibiades is now at?
Com: What's the latest, then? Were you just with him? How does the young man feel about you?
Soc: Pretty well, or so I think. Especially today, since he said so much to help me. I left him just now. But I want to tell you about something weird: although I was with him, I wasn't paying him any attention – I pretty much forgot about him.
Com: What could have happened between you two - something big? You didn't come upon someone else more beautiful in this city, did you?
Soc: Quite a bit more.
Com: What? Was he a local or a stranger?
Soc: A stranger.
Com: From?
Soc: Abdera.
Com: And you found this stranger so beautiful that he looked more beautiful than the son of Cleinias?
Soc: Don't you know, my friend, that the wisest looks more beautiful?
Com: Aha! So you're telling us you ran into someone wise, Socrates?
Soc: The wisest man alive, I suppose, if you think Protagoras is the wisest.
Com: Oh! What are you saying? Has Protagoras been in town?
Soc: For two days now.
Com: So you’ve just come after spending time with him?

Jowett's translation (1871)

Com. Where do you come from, Socrates? And yet I need hardly ask the question, for I know that you have been in chase of the fair Alcibiades. I saw the day before yesterday; and he had got a beard like a man-and he is a man, as I may tell you in your ear. But I thought that he was still very charming.
Soc. What of his beard? Are you not of Homer's opinion, who says
Youth is most charming when the beard first appears? And that is now the charm of Alcibiades.
Com. Well, and how do matters proceed? Have you been visiting him, and was he gracious to you?
Soc. Yes, I thought that he was very gracious; and especially to-day, for I have just come from him, and he has been helping me in an argument. But shall I tell you a strange thing? I paid no attention to him, and several times I quite forgot that he was present.
Com. What is the meaning of this? Has anything happened between you and him? For surely you cannot have discovered a fairer love than he is; certainly not in this city of Athens.
Soc. Yes, much fairer.
Com. What do you mean-a citizen or a foreigner?
Soc. A foreigner.
Com. Of what country?
Soc. Of Abdera.
Com. And is this stranger really in your opinion a fairer love than the son of Cleinias?
Soc. And is not the wiser always the fairer, sweet friend?
Com. But have you really met, Socrates, with some wise one?
Soc. Say rather, with the wisest of all living men, if you are willing to accord that title to Protagoras.
Com. What! Is Protagoras in Athens?
Soc. Yes; he has been here two days.
Com. And do you just come from an interview with him?

Compare Lamb's (1924) translation at the Perseus Project

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