[13,15] οὐ μέντοι προσεποιούμην ἐμὸν εἶναι τὸν λόγον, ἀλλ´ οὗπερ ἦν, καὶ ἠξίουν, ἂν ἄρα μὴ δύνωμαι ἀπομνημονεῦσαι ἀκριβῶς ἁπάντων τῶν ῥημάτων μηδὲ ὅλης τῆς διανοίας, ἀλλὰ πλέον ἢ ἔλαττον εἴπω τι, συγγνώμην ἔχειν, μηδὲ ὅτι ταῦτα λέγω ἃ τυγχάνει πολλοῖς ἔτεσι πρότερον εἰρημένα, διὰ τοῦτο ἧττον προσέχειν τὸν νοῦν. ἴσως γὰρ ἄν, ἔφην, οὕτως μάλιστα ὠφεληθείητε. οὐ γὰρ δή γε εἰκός ἐστι τοὺς παλαιοὺς λόγους ὥσπερ φάρμακα διαπνεύσαντας ἀπολωλεκέναι τὴν δύναμιν. (16) ἐκεῖνος γὰρ ὁπότ´ ἴδοι πλείονας ἀνθρώπους ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ, σχετλιάζων καὶ ἐπιτιμῶν ἐβόα πάνυ ἀνδρείως τε καὶ ἀνυποστόλως, Ποῖ φέρεσθε, ὤνθρωποι, καὶ ἀγνοεῖτε μηδὲν τῶν δεόντων πράττοντες, χρημάτων μὲν ἐπιμελούμενοι καὶ πορίζοντες πάντα τρόπον, ὅπως αὐτοί τε ἄφθονα ἕξετε καὶ τοῖς παισὶν ἔτι πλείω παραδώσετε, αὐτῶν δὲ τῶν παίδων καὶ πρότερον ὑμῶν τῶν πατέρων ἠμελήκατε ὁμοίως ἅπαντες, οὐδεμίαν εὑρόντες οὔτε παίδευσιν οὔτε ἄσκησιν ἱκανὴν οὐδὲ ὠφέλιμον ἀνθρώποις, ἣν παιδευθέντες δυνήσεσθε τοῖς χρήμασι χρῆσθαι ὀρθῶς καὶ δικαίως, ἀλλὰ μὴ βλαβερῶς καὶ ἀδίκως, καὶ ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς {ἐπιζημίως}, ὃ σπουδαιότερον {ἡγεῖσθαι} τῶν χρημάτων, καὶ υἱοῖς καὶ θυγατράσι καὶ γυναιξὶ (17) καὶ ἀδελφοῖς καὶ φίλοις, κἀκεῖνοι ὑμῖν. ἀλλ´ ἦ κιθαρίζειν καὶ παλαίειν καὶ γράμματα μανθάνοντες ὑπὸ τῶν γονέων καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς διδάσκοντες οἴεσθε σωφρονέστερον καὶ ἄμεινον οἰκήσειν τὴν πόλιν; καίτοι εἴ τις συναγαγὼν τούς τε κιθαριστὰς καὶ τοὺς παιδοτρίβας καὶ τοὺς γραμματιστὰς τοὺς ἄριστα ἐπισταμένους ἕκαστα τούτων πόλιν κατοικίσειεν ἐξ αὐτῶν ἢ καὶ ἔθνος, καθάπερ ὑμεῖς ποτε τὴν Ἰωνίαν, ποία τις ἂν ὑμῖν δοκεῖ γενέσθαι πόλις καὶ τίνα οἰκεῖσθαι τρόπον; οὐ πολὺ κάκιον καὶ αἴσχιον τῆς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ καπήλων πόλεως, ὅπου πάντες κάπηλοι κατοικοῦσιν, ὁμοίως μὲν ἄνδρες, ὁμοίως δὲ γυναῖκες; οὐ πολὺ γελοιότερον οἰκήσουσιν οὗτοι, οὓς λέγω τοὺς τῶν ὑμετέρων παίδων διδασκάλους, οἱ παιδοτρίβαι καὶ κιθαρισταὶ καὶ γραμματισταί, προσλαβόντες τούς τε (18) ῥαψῳδοὺς καὶ τοὺς ὑποκριτάς. καὶ γὰρ δὴ ὅσα μανθάνουσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι, τούτου ἕνεκα μανθάνουσιν ὅπως, ἐπειδὰν ἡ χρεία ἐνστῇ πρὸς ἣν ἐμάνθανεν ἕκαστος, ποιῇ τὸ κατὰ τὴν τέχνην, οἷον ὁ μὲν κυβερνήτης ὅταν εἰς τὴν ναῦν ἐμβῇ, τῷ πηδαλίῳ κατευθύνων· διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ ἐμάνθανε κυβερνᾶν· ὁ δὲ ἰατρὸς ἐπειδὰν παραλάβῃ τὸν κάμνοντα, τοῖς φαρμάκοις καὶ τοῖς περὶ τὴν δίαιταν ἰώμενος, οὗ (19) ἕνεκα ἐκτήσατο τὴν ἐμπειρίαν. οὐκοῦν καὶ ὑμεῖς, ἔφη, ἐπειδὰν δέῃ τι βουλεύεσθαι περὶ τῆς πόλεως, συνελθόντες εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, οἱ μὲν ὑμῶν κιθαρίζουσιν ἀναστάντες, οἱ δέ τινες παλαίετε, ἄλλοι δὲ ἀναγιγνώσκετε τῶν Ὁμήρου τι λαβόντες ἢ τῶν Ἡσιόδου; ταῦτα γὰρ ἄμεινον ἴστε ἑτέρων, καὶ ἀπὸ τούτων οἴεσθε ἄνδρες ἀγαθοὶ ἔσεσθαι καὶ δυνήσεσθαι τά τε κοινὰ πράττειν ὀρθῶς καὶ τὰ ἴδια, καὶ νῦν ἐπὶ ταύταις ταῖς ἐλπίσιν οἰκεῖτε τὴν πόλιν καὶ τοὺς υἱέας παρασκευάζετε ὡς δυνατοὺς ἐσομένους χρῆσθαι τοῖς τε αὑτῶν καὶ τοῖς δημοσίοις πράγμασιν, οἳ ἂν ἱκανῶς κιθαρίσωσι Παλλάδα περσέπολιν δεινὰν ἢ τῷ ποδὶ βῶσι πρὸς τὴν λύραν· ὅπως δὲ γνώσεσθε τὰ συμφέροντα ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς καὶ τῇ πατρίδι καὶ νομίμως καὶ δικαίως μεθ´ ὁμονοίας πολιτεύσεσθε καὶ οἰκήσετε, μὴ ἀδικῶν ἄλλος ἄλλον μηδὲ ἐπιβουλεύων, τοῦτο δὲ οὐδέποτε ἐμάθετε οὐδὲ ἐμέλησεν ὑμῖν πώποτε οὐδὲ νῦν ἔτι φροντίζετε.

[13,15] By no means, however, did I pretend that the appeal was mine, but gave the credit where it was due, and requested them, in-case I were unable to recall accurately all the phrases, or even not all the thought, but should add or subtract anything, to grant me their indulgence and not to pay any the less attention to me just because I was repeating what happened to have been said many years before. "For perhaps," said I, "you will in this way derive the greatest benefit. "For in truth," I added, "it is not at all probable that the words of old have evaporated like drugs and lost their power." Now Socrates, whenever he saw several persons assembled, would cry out most bravely and frankly with indignant rebuke and censure, "Whither are you drifting, men ? Are you quite unaware that you are doing none of the things that you should do, in concerning yourselves with money and trying to get it in any way and every way, in order that you may not only have it in abundance yourselves, but may bequeath still more of it to your children ? Yet the children themselves—aye, and earlier, yourselves, their fathers—you have all alike neglected, since you have found no education and no mode of life that is satisfactory, or even profitable, for man, which, if acquired, will enable you to use your money rightly and justly, instead of harmfully and unjustly, and to treat without hurt, not only yourselves, whom you should have considered of more value than wealth, but also your sons and daughters and wives and brothers and friends, even as they should treat you. (17) "But, pray, is it by learning from your parents to play the lyre and to wrestle, to read and write, and by teaching your sons these things that you think that your city will be inhabited by more disciplined and better citizens? And yet if one were to bring together all the cithara players and gymnastic masters and schoolmasters who have the best knowledge of their respective subjects, and, if you should found a city with them or even a nation, just as you at one time colonized Ionia, what sort of a city do you think it would be, and what the character of its citizens? Would not life be much worse and viler than it is in that city of shopkeepers in Egypt, where all shopkeepers settle, both men and women alike ? Will not a much more ridiculous society be made by these teachers of your children of whom I speak—I mean the gymnastic masters, the cithara players, and the schoolmasters, including the rhapsodists and the actors ? (18) "For mark you, everything that people learn, they learn simply in order that when the need arises for the things which each man has learned, he may do the work of his profession, the pilot, for instance, guiding the ship with the rudder as soon as he steps on board—for this is why he studied piloting—and the physician healing with his drugs and dietary regulations when he takes charge of his patient—the purpose for which he acquired his skill. And so, to take your own case,"he continued, "when there is need of any deliberation concerning the welfare of your city and you have come together in the Assembly, do some of you get up and play the cithara, and certain other individuals wrestle, and yet others of you take something of Homer's or Hesiod's and proceed to read it? For these are the things that you know better than the others, and these are the things which you think will make you good men and enable you to conduct your public affairs properly and your private concerns likewise. And now, these are the hopes which inspire you when you direct your city and prepare your sons, thinking to qualify them to handle both their own and the publics interests if only they can play satisfactorily "Pallas, drèad destroyer of cities", or' with eager foot' betake themselves to the lyre. But as to how you are to learn what is to your own advantage and that of your native city, and to live lawfully and justly and harmoniously in your social and political relations without wronging or plotting against one another, this you never learned nor has this problem ever yet given you any concern, nor even at this moment does it trouble you at ail.