Complete Works (31 page)

H
ERMOGENES
: Clearly.

S
OCRATES
: So, if he is to bind them with the strongest of shackles, rather than holding them by force, he must, it seems, bind them with some sort of desire.

H
ERMOGENES
: Evidently.

S
OCRATES
: Now, there are lots of desires, aren’t there?

H
ERMOGENES
: Yes.

S
OCRATES
: So, if he is really going to hold them with the greatest shackles, he has to bind them with the greatest desire. [d]

H
ERMOGENES
: Yes.

S
OCRATES
: Is any desire greater than the desire to associate with someone whose company one believes will make one a better man?

H
ERMOGENES
: No, there certainly isn’t, Socrates.

S
OCRATES
: So let’s say that it is for these reasons, Hermogenes, that hitherto no one has wished to come back here from there. The words [e] Hades knows how to speak are so beautiful, it seems, that everyone—even the Sirens—has been overcome by his enchantments. On this account, therefore, this god is a perfect sophist, and a great benefactor to those who are with him. So great is the wealth that surrounds him there below, indeed, that he even sends many good things to us from it. This is how he got the name ‘Pluto’. On the other hand, because he is unwilling to associate with human beings while they have their bodies, but converses with them only when their souls are purified of all the desires and evils
[404]
of the body, doesn’t he seem to you to be a philosopher? For hasn’t he well understood that when people are free of their bodies he can bind them with the desire for virtue, but that while they feel the agitation and madness of the body not even the famous shackles of his father Cronus could keep them with him?
²⁷

H
ERMOGENES
: Probably so, Socrates.

[b] S
OCRATES
: It’s much more likely then, Hermogenes, that Hades derives his name not from what cannot be seen (
aeides
), but from the fact that he knows (
eidenai
) everything fine and beautiful, and that that is why the rule-setter called him ‘Hades’.

H
ERMOGENES
: All right. But what about Demeter, Hera, Apollo, Athena, Hephaestus, and all the other gods? What are we to say about them?

S
OCRATES
: Demeter seems to have been so called because she gives (
didousa
) nourishment just like a mother (
m
ē
t
ē
r
); Hera is a loveable one (
erat
ē
), [c] and, indeed, Zeus is said to have married her for love. But perhaps the rule-setter, being a lofty thinker, called her ‘Hera’ as a disguised name for air (
a
ē
r
), putting the end of her name at the beginning—you’ll get the idea if you repeat the name ‘Hera’ over and over. As for ‘
pherrephatta
’: it seems that many people dread the names ‘Pherrephatta’ and ‘Apollo’ because they are ignorant about the correctness of names, for they change the first name to ‘Phersephone’, and then it seems terrifying to them.
²⁸
But really the name ‘Pherrephatta’ indicates that the goddess is wise—for since things [d] are being swept along, wisdom is the power to grasp (
ephaptomenon
), comprehend (
epaph
ō
n
), and follow (
epakolouthein
) them. Thus it would be correct to call this goddess ‘Pherepapha’, or something like that, because of her wisdom, that is to say, her power to comprehend what is being swept along (
epaph
ē
tou pheromenou
)—this is also the reason that Hades, since he is himself wise, associates with her. But people nowadays attach more importance to euphony than to truth, so they distort her name and call her ‘Pherrephatta’. And, as I said, the same thing has happened to Apollo. Many people are afraid of his name because they think it indicates [e] something terrifying.
²⁹
Haven’t you noticed this?

H
ERMOGENES
: I certainly have, and what you say is true.

S
OCRATES
: In my view, however, the name is most beautifully suited to the power of the god.

H
ERMOGENES
: How so?

S
OCRATES
: I’ll try to say how it seems to me, at least. I think no single name could be more in keeping with the four powers of the god. It comprehends
[405]
each of them, expressing his power in music, prophecy, medicine, and archery.

H
ERMOGENES
: It’s a pretty remarkable name you’re talking about; so go ahead and explain it.

S
OCRATES
: It’s certainly a harmonious one. After all, it’s the name of the god of music. To begin with, the purgations and purifications that doctors and prophets use, the fumigations with medicinal and magical drugs, and [b] the various washings and sprinklings that are involved in these processes, all have the same effect, don’t they, namely, to make a person pure in body and soul?

H
ERMOGENES
: Certainly.

S
OCRATES
: But isn’t Apollo the purifying god who washes away (
apolou
ō
n
) such evil impurities and releases (
apolu
ō
n
) us from them?

H
ERMOGENES
: Certainly.

S
OCRATES
: Since he washes and releases and is a doctor for our evil impurities, he might correctly be called ‘
Apolou
ō
n
’ (‘The Washer’). On the [c] other hand, it may well be most correct to call him by the name the Thessalians use, since it accords with his prophecy, that is to say, with his single-mindedness (
haploun
) or truthfulness (these being the same thing), for all the Thessalians call this god ‘
Aploun
’. And since he always (
aei
) makes his shots (
bol
ō
n
), because of his skill in archery, he is also ‘
Aeiball
ō
n
’ (‘Always-shooting’). To understand how his name accords with his musical powers, we have to understand that the letter ‘
a
’ often signifies togetherness (
to homou
), as it does in ‘
akolouthos
’ (‘follower’ or ‘attendant’) and ‘
akoitis
’ (‘bed-fellow’, ‘spouse’, ‘husband’).
³⁰
In this case, it signifies moving together (
homou pol
ē
sis
), whether the moving together of the heavens around what we call the ‘poles’ (
‘poloi
’), or the harmonious moving together in music, which we call ‘being in concert’ (‘
sumphonia
’); for, as those who are clever in astronomy and music say, all these things move together simultaneously [d] by a kind of harmony. Apollo is the god who directs the harmony, and makes all things move together (
homopol
ō
n
), whether for gods or human beings. So, just as the names
‘akolouthos
’ and ‘
akoitis
’ are derived from ‘
homokolouthos
’ and ‘
homokoitis
’ by replacing ‘
homo
’ with ‘
a
’, we called him ‘Apollo’, though he was really ‘
Homopolon
’ (‘the one who makes things [e] move together’). We inserted the second ‘
l
’ lest his name become an oppressive one.
³¹
Even as it is, indeed, some people, who haven’t correctly investigated the force or power of his name, are afraid of it, because they suspect that it does signify some kind of destructiveness. But, as we said earlier,
[406]
it really comprehends each of the powers of the god, who is a single-minded, always shooting washer, who makes things move together. As for the Muses and music and poetry in general, they seem to have derived their name from their eager desire (
m
ō
sthai
) to investigate and do philosophy. Leto is so-called because of being very gentle (
pra(i)ot
ē
tos
) and willing (
ethel
ē
mos
) to do whatever is asked of her. Or perhaps her name derives from the one used by those who speak dialects other than Attic, many of whom call her ‘Letho’—apparently on account of the fact that her character [b] isn’t rough but gentle and smooth (
leion
). Artemis appears to have been so-called because of her soundness (
artemes
) and orderliness, and because of her desire for virginity (
parthenia
). Or perhaps the one who gave her that name was calling her ‘an investigator of virtue’ (‘
aret
ē
s hist
ō
r
’) or ‘a hater of sexual intercourse between men and women’ (‘
aroton mis
ē
sas
ē
s
’). It is for some one of these reasons or for all of them that the one who gave this name to the goddess gave it to her.

H
ERMOGENES
: What about ‘Dionysos’ and ‘Aphrodite’?

S
OCRATES
: You’re asking great things of me, son of Hipponicus, because there is not only a serious way of explaining the names of these divinities [c] but a playful one as well. You’ll have to ask others for the serious one, but there’s nothing to prevent us from going through the playful one—even the gods love play. Dionysos, the giver of wine (
ho didous ton oinon
), might playfully be called ‘
Didoinusos
’; while wine (
oinos
) would most justly be called
‘oionous
’, since it makes most drinkers think they understood (
oiesthai noun echein
) when they don’t. As far as Aphrodite is concerned, there’s no point in contradicting Hesiod—we should agree with him that [d] she is called ‘Aphrodite’ because she was born from foam (
aphros
).
³²

H
ERMOGENES
: Being an Athenian, Socrates, you surely aren’t going to forget Athena, or Hephaestus and Ares either, for that matter.

S
OCRATES
: Not likely.

H
ERMOGENES
: No, indeed.

S
OCRATES
: It isn’t hard to explain how Athena got her other name.

H
ERMOGENES
: Which one?

S
OCRATES
: ‘Pallas’—you know we call her that.

H
ERMOGENES
: Of course.

S
OCRATES
: In my view, we would be correct to think that this name [e] derives from her dancing in arms and armor, for lifting oneself or anything else up, whether from the ground or in one’s hands, is called ‘shaking’ (‘
pallein
’) and ‘dancing’ or ‘being shaken’ (‘
pallesthai
’) and ‘being danced’.
[407]

H
ERMOGENES
: Certainly.

S
OCRATES
: She’s called ‘Pallas’ because of this.

H
ERMOGENES
: And correctly so. But how do you explain her other name?

S
OCRATES
: You mean ‘Athena’?

H
ERMOGENES
: Yes.

S
OCRATES
: That’s a much weightier issue, my friend. The ancients seem to have had the same opinion about Athena as do contemporary experts on Homer. Many of them say in their interpretations of the poet that he [b] represents Athena as Understanding or Thought. The maker of names seems to think the same sort of thing about the goddess. Indeed, he speaks of her in still grander terms, saying she is the very mind of god (
theou
no
ē
sis
), as if she is ‘
ha theonoa
’—using ‘
a
’ in the non-Attic style in place of ‘
ē
’ and deleting ‘
i
’ and ‘
s
’.
³³
But perhaps this isn’t the explanation. Perhaps what he called her was ‘
Theono
ē
’, because of her unparalleled knowledge of divine things (
ta theia noousa
). Nor would we be far off the mark if we supposed that what he called her was ‘
Ē
thono
ē
’, because he wanted to identify the goddess with her understanding character (
h
ē
en t
ō
i
ē
thei no
ē
sis
). Then he himself or others after him made the name more beautiful, as [c] they thought, and called her ‘
Ath
ē
naa
’.

H
ERMOGENES
: What about Hephaestus? How do you explain him?

S
OCRATES
: Are you asking me about the noble judge of light (
phaeos hist
ō
r
)?

H
ERMOGENES
: It seems so.

S
OCRATES
: Isn’t it clear to everyone then that he is ‘Phaestus’ with an ‘
ē
’ added on?

H
ERMOGENES
: It probably is—unless you happen to have yet another opinion on the matter. And you probably do.

S
OCRATES
: Then to prevent me from giving it, ask me about Ares.

H
ERMOGENES
: Consider yourself asked!

S
OCRATES
: All right, if that’s what you want. It is proper for a god who is in every way warlike to be called ‘Ares’, for ‘Ares’ accords with virility (
arren
) and courage (
andreia
), or with a hard and unbending nature, the [d] one that is called ‘
arratos
’.

H
ERMOGENES
: It certainly is.

S
OCRATES
: Then for god’s sake let’s leave the subject of the gods, because it frightens me to talk about them. But ask me about anything else you like, “until we see what the horses” of Euthyphro “can do.”
³⁴

H
ERMOGENES
: I’ll do that, but there is still one god I want to ask you about, and that’s Hermes, since Cratylus says that I am no Hermogenes [e] (Son-of-Hermes). So let’s examine the name ‘Hermes’ and its meaning, to see whether there’s anything in what he says.