Complete Works (32 page)

S
OCRATES
: Well, the name ‘Hermes’ seems to have something to do with speech: he is an interpreter (
herm
ē
neus
), a messenger, a thief and a deceiver
[408]
in words, a wheeler-dealer—and all these activities involve the power of speech. Now, as we mentioned before,
³⁵
‘
eirein
’ means ‘to use words’, and the other part of the name says—as Homer often does—‘
em
ē
sato
’ (‘he contrived’), which means ‘to devise’. And it was out of these two words that the rule-setter established the name of the god who devised speech (
legein
) and words, since ‘
eirein
’ means the same as ‘
legein
’ (‘to speak’). It’s just as if he had told us: “Humans, it would be right for you to call [b] the god who has contrived speech (
to eirein em
ē
sato
) ‘
Eirem
ē
s
’.” But we, beautifying the name, as we suppose, call him ‘Hermes’ nowadays.

H
ERMOGENES
: I’m certain that Cratylus was right when he said that I’m no Hermogenes then, since I’m no good at devising speeches.

S
OCRATES
: But it
is
reasonable for Pan to be Hermes’ double-natured son.

[c] H
ERMOGENES
: How so?

S
OCRATES
: You know speech signifies all things (
to pan
) and keeps them circulating and always going about, and that it has two forms—true and false?

H
ERMOGENES
: Certainly.

S
OCRATES
: Well, the true part is smooth and divine and dwells among the gods above, while the false part dwells below among the human masses, and is rough and goatish (
tragikon
); for it is here, in the tragic (
tragikon
) life, that one finds the vast majority of myths and falsehoods.

H
ERMOGENES
: Certainly.

S
OCRATES
: Therefore the one who expresses all things (
pan
) and keeps them always in circulation (
aei pol
ō
n
) is correctly called ‘Pan-the-goat-herd’ [d] (‘
Pan aipolos
’). The double-natured son of Hermes, he is smooth in his upper parts, and rough and goatish in the ones below. He is either speech itself or the brother of speech, since he is the son of Hermes. And it’s not a bit surprising that a brother resembles his brother. But, as I said, let’s leave the gods.

H
ERMOGENES
: That sort of gods, Socrates, if that’s what you want. But what keeps you from discussing these gods: the sun and moon, and stars, [e] earth, aether, air, fire, water, and the seasons and the year?

S
OCRATES
: That’s a lot you’re asking of me! All the same, if it will please you, I am willing.

H
ERMOGENES
: Of course, it will.

S
OCRATES
: Which one do you want me to take up first? Or, since you mentioned the sun (
h
ē
lios
) first, shall we begin with it?

H
ERMOGENES
: Certainly.

S
OCRATES
: If we use the Doric form of the name, I think matters will
[409]
become clearer, for the Dorians call the sun ‘
halios
’. So ‘
halios
’ might accord with the fact that the sun collects (
halizein
) people together when it rises, or with the fact that it is always rolling (
aei heilein i
ō
n
) in its course around the earth, or with the fact that it seems to color (
poikillei
) the products of the earth, for ‘
poikillein
’ means the same as ‘
aiolein
’ (‘to shift rapidly to and fro’).

H
ERMOGENES
: What about the moon (
sel
ē
n
ē
)?

S
OCRATES
: The name certainly seems to put Anaxagoras in an awkward position.

H
ERMOGENES
: Why is that?

S
OCRATES
: It seems to reveal that his recent theory about the moon deriving its light from the sun is in fact quite old. [b]

H
ERMOGENES
: In what way?

S
OCRATES
:
Selas
(bright light) and
ph
ō
s
(light) are the same thing.

H
ERMOGENES
: Yes.

S
OCRATES
: Now, if what the Anaxagoreans say is true, the light of the moon (
sel
ē
n
ē
) is always both new (
neon
) and old (
henon
), for they say that as the sun circles around the moon it always casts new light on it, but that the light from the previous month also remains there.

H
ERMOGENES
: Certainly.

S
OCRATES
: But many people call the moon ‘
Selanaia
’.

H
ERMOGENES
: Yes, they do.

S
OCRATES
: And, since its light is always both new and old (
selas neon kai
enon echei aei
), the right name to call it is ‘
Selaenoneoaeia
’, and this is the [c] one that has been compressed into ‘
Selanaia
’.

H
ERMOGENES
: And a dithyrambic
³⁶
name it is too, Socrates! But what have you to say about the month and the stars?

S
OCRATES
: The correct name to call a month (
meis
) is ‘
mei
ē
s
’ from ‘
meiousthai
’ (‘to grow smaller’). And the stars (
astra
) seem to get their name given to them from ‘
astrap
ē
’ (‘lightning’), for lightning is what causes the eyes to turn upward (
anastrephei ta
ō
pa
). Hence, it should really be called ‘
anastr
ō
p
ē
’, but nowadays the name is beautified and it is called ‘
astrap
ē
’.

H
ERMOGENES
: What about fire and water?

S
OCRATES
: I’m really puzzled about fire (
pur
). So either Euthyphro’s muse [d] has abandoned me or this really is very hard. But notice the device I use in all such puzzling cases.

H
ERMOGENES
: What is that?

S
OCRATES
: I’ll tell you. But first answer me this. Could you say in what way
pur
(fire) comes to be so called?

H
ERMOGENES
: I certainly can’t.

S
OCRATES
: Here’s what I suspect. I think that the Greeks, especially those who live abroad, have adopted many names from foreign tongues. [e]

H
ERMOGENES
: What of it?

S
OCRATES
: Well, if someone were trying to discover whether these names had been reasonably given, and he treated them as belonging to the Greek language rather than the one they really come from, you know that he would be in a quandary.

H
ERMOGENES
: He very probably would.

[410]
S
OCRATES
: Now, look at ‘fire’ (‘
pur
’) and see whether it isn’t a foreign name—for it certainly isn’t easy to connect it with the Greek language. Besides, it’s obvious that the Phrygrians use the same name slightly altered. And the same holds for ‘water’ (
‘hud
ō
r
) and ‘dog’ (‘
ku
ō
n
’), and lots of others.

H
ERMOGENES
: So it does.

S
OCRATES
: Consequently, though one might say something about these names, one mustn’t push them too far. That, then, is how I get rid of ‘fire’ (
‘pur
’) and ‘water’ (‘
hud
ō
r
’). But what about air, Hermogenes? Is it called [b] ‘
a
ē
r
’ because it raises (
airei
) things from the earth? Or because it is always flowing (
aei rhei
)? Or because wind (
pneuma
) arises from its flow? For the poets call the winds (
pneumata
) ‘gales’ (
a
ē
tai
’), don’t they? So, perhaps a poet says ‘
a
ē
torrous
’ (‘gale flow’) in place of ‘
pneumatorrous
’ (‘wind flow’), thereby indicating that what he is talking about is air.
³⁷
As for aether, I’d explain it as follows: it is right to call it ‘
aeithe
ē
r
’, because it is always running and flowing (
aei thei rhe
ō
n
) about the air. The earth (
g
ē
) is better [c] signified by the name
‘gaia
’; for
gaia
is correctly called a ‘mother’, as Homer tells us by using ‘
gegaasi
’ for ‘to be born’. All right, what was to come next?

H
ERMOGENES
: ‘Seasons’ (‘
H
ō
rai
’), Socrates, and the two names for the year, ‘
eniautos
’ and ‘
etos
’.

S
OCRATES
: If you want to know the probable truth about the name ‘
h
ō
rai
’ (‘seasons’), you must look to the fact that it is spelled ‘
horai
’ in old Attic. The seasons are rightly called ‘
horai
’ (‘things that distinguish or mark off one thing from another’), because they distinguish (
horizein
) the weathers of winter and summer, the winds, and the fruits of the earth. As for [d] ‘
eniautos
’ and ‘
etos
’, they are actually one name. We saw earlier that Zeus’ name was divided in two—some called him ‘
Z
ē
na
’, some ‘
Dia
’ in the accusative.
³⁸
Well, exactly the same is true of the name of the year. It is the year by itself that brings the plants and animals of the earth to light, each in its proper season, and passes them in review within itself (
en heaut
ō
i exetazei
). Hence, some people call it ‘
etos
’, because it passes things in review (
etazei
), while others call it ‘
eniautos
’, because it does this within itself (
en
heaut
ō
i
). The whole phrase is ‘passing things in review within itself’ (‘
en
heaut
ō
i etazon
’), but this single phrase results in the year being called these two different names. Thus, the two names, ‘
eniautos
’ and ‘
etos
’, derive from [e] a single phrase.

H
ERMOGENES
: I say, Socrates, you
are
making great progress!

S
OCRATES
: I think I’m driving my apparent wisdom pretty hard at present.

H
ERMOGENES
: You certainly are.

S
OCRATES
: You’ll be even more certain in a second.

H
ERMOGENES
: Now that we’ve examined that sort of name, I’d next like
[411]
to see with what correctness the names of the virtues are given. I mean ‘wisdom’ (‘
phron
ē
sis
’), ‘comprehension’ (‘
sunesis
’), ‘justice’ (‘
dikaiosun
ē
’), and all the other fine names of that sort.

S
OCRATES
: That’s no inconsequential class of names you’re stirring up, Hermogenes, but, since I have put on the lion’s skin,
³⁹
I mustn’t lose heart. So, it seems I must investigate ‘wisdom’, ‘comprehension’, ‘judgment’ (‘
gn
ō
m
ē
’), ‘knowledge’ (‘
epist
ē
m
ē
’), and all those other fine names of which you speak. [b]

H
ERMOGENES
: We certainly mustn’t stop until we’ve done so.

S
OCRATES
: By the dog, I think that’s a pretty good inspiration—what popped into my mind just now! Most of our wise men nowadays get so dizzy going around and around in their search for the nature of the things that are, that the things themselves appear to them to be turning around and moving every which way. Well, I think that the people who gave things their names in very ancient times are exactly like these wise men. [c] They don’t blame this on their own internal condition, however, but on the nature of the things themselves, which they think are never stable or steadfast, but flowing and moving, full of every sort of motion and constant coming into being. I say this, because the names you just mentioned put me in mind of it.

H
ERMOGENES
: How did they do that, Socrates?

S
OCRATES
: Perhaps you didn’t notice that they are given on the assumption that the things they name are moving, flowing, and coming into being.

H
ERMOGENES
: No, I didn’t think of that at all.

S
OCRATES
: Well, to begin with, the first name we mentioned is undoubtedly [d] like this.

H
ERMOGENES
: What name was that?

S
OCRATES
: ‘Wisdom’ (‘
phron
ē
sis
’). Wisdom is the understanding of motion (
phoras no
ē
sis
) and flow. Or it might be interpreted as taking delight in motion (
phoras on
ē
sis
). In either case, it has to do with motion. If you want another example, the name ‘judgment’ (‘
gn
ō
m
ē
’) expresses the fact that to judge is to examine or study whatever is begotten (
gon
ē
s n
ō
m
ē
sis
); for ‘studying’ (‘
n
ō
man
’) and ‘examining’ (‘
skopein
’) are the same. And if you want yet another example, understanding (
no
ē
sis
) itself is the longing for the new (
neou hesis
). But to say that the things that are are new is to signify that they are always coming into being. And such things are what the soul longs for, as the giver of the name, ‘
neoesis
’ expressed, for the ancient name [e] wasn’t ‘
no
ē
sis
’ but ‘
noesis
’, but an ‘
ē
’ took the place of the double ‘
e
’. Moderation (
s
ō
phrosun
ē
) is the saviour (
s
ō
teria
) of the wisdom (
phron
ē
sis
) we just looked at. ‘Knowledge’ (
‘epist
ē
m
ē
’) indicates that a worthwhile soul
[412]
follows (
hepetai
) the movement of things, neither falling behind nor running on ahead. So we ought to insert an ‘
e
’ in the name and spell it ‘
hepeïst
ē
m
ē
’. Comprehension (
sunesis
), in turn, seems to be a kind of summing up (
sullogismos
), and whenever one says ‘comprehends’ (‘
sunienai
’), it’s exactly as if one has said ‘knows’ (‘
epistasthai
’), for ‘
sunienai
’ (literally, ‘goes along [b] with’) means that the soul ‘journeys together’ with things. As for ‘wisdom’ (‘
sophia
’), it signifies the grasp of motion. But it is rather obscure and non-Attic. Nonetheless, we must remember that the poets often say of something that begins to advance quickly that it “rushed” (“
esuth
ē
”). Indeed, there was a famous Spartan man named ‘
Sous
’, for this is what the Spartans call a rapid advance. ‘Wisdom’ signifies the grasping (
epaph
ē
) of this motion, on the assumption that the things that are are moving. The [c] name ‘good’ (‘
agathon
’) is intended to signify everything in nature that is admirable (
agaston
). The things that are are moving, but some are moving quickly, others slowly. So what moves quickly is not all there is, but the admirable part of it. Hence this name ‘
tagathon
’ (‘the good’) is applied to what is admirable (
agaston
) about the fast (
thoon
).