The Symposium [13]
to grow, than to Callias. Possibly we should read (after Pollux, ii. 10) {peri ten upenen}, "on the upper lip." See Plat. "Protag." 309 B; "Il." xxiv. 348; "Od." x. 279.
[38] Cf. Pind. "Pyth." x. 75.
[39] See "Cyrop." I. iv. 28; Shakesp. "Ven. and Ad." 89: "But when her lips were ready for his pay, he winks, and turns his lips another way."
[40] Or, "a kiss which is to passion as dry combustious matter is to fire," Shakesp. ib. 1162.
[41] Or, "is namesake of the love within the soul of lovers." The whole passage, involving a play on the words {philein phileisthai}, "where kisses rain without, love reigns within," is probably to be regarded as a gloss. Cf. "Mem." I. iii. 13.
[42] Cf. "Mem." I. iii. 8-14.
Then Charmides: Oh! Socrates, why will you scare your friends with these hobgoblin terrors,[43] bidding us all beware of handsome faces, whilst you yourself--yes, by Apollo, I will swear I saw you at the schoolmaster's[44] that time when both of you were poring over one book, in which you searched for something, you and Critobulus, head to head, shoulder to shoulder bare, as if incorporate?[45]
[43] Cf. Plat. "Crit." 46 D; "Hell." IV. iv. 17; Arist. "Birds," 1245.
[44] "Grammarian's." Plat. "Protag." 312 B; 326 D; Dem. 315. 8.
[45] Like Hermia and Helena, "Mids. N. D." iii. 2. 208.
As yes, alack the day! (he answered); and that is why, no doubt, my shoulder ached for more than five days afterwards, as if I had been bitten by some fell beast, and methought I felt a sort of scraping at the heart.[46] Now therefore, in the presence of these witnesses, I warn you, Critobulus, never again to touch me till you wear as thick a crop of hair[47] upon your chin as on your head.
[46] Reading {knisma}, "scratching." Plat. "Hipp. maj." 304 A. Al. {knesma}.
[47] See Jebb, "Theophr. Ch." xxiv. 16.
So pell-mell they went at it, half jest half earnest, and so the medley ended. Callias here called on Charmides.
Call. Now, Charmides, it lies with you to tell us why you pride yourself on poverty.[48]
[48] Zeune, cf. "Cyrop." VIII. iii. 35-50.
Charmides responded: On all hands it is admitted, I believe, that confidence is better than alarm; better to be a freeman than a slave; better to be worshipped than pay court to others; better to be trusted than to be suspected by one's country.
Well now, I will tell you how it fared with me in this same city when I was wealthy. First, I lived in daily terror lest some burglar should break into my house and steal my goods and do myself some injury. I cringed before informers.[49] I was obliged to pay these people court, because I knew that I could injure them far less than they could injure me. Never-ending the claims upon my pocket which the state enforced upon me; and as to setting foot abroad, that was beyond the range of possibility. But now that I have lost my property across the frontier,[50] and derive no income from my lands in Attica itself; now that my very household goods have been sold up, I stretch my legs at ease, I get a good night's rest. The distrust of my fellow-citizens has vanished; instead of trembling at threats, it is now my turn to threaten; at last I feel myself a freeman, with liberty to go abroad or stay at home as suits my fancy. The tables now are turned. It is the rich who rise to give me their seats, who stand aside and make way for me as I meet them in the streets. To-day I am like a despot, yesterday I was literally a slave; formerly it was I who had to pay my tribute[51] to the sovereign people, now it is I who am supported by the state by means of general taxation.[52]
[49] "And police agents."
[50] Cf. "Mem." II. viii. 1.
[51] {phoros}, tributum. Al. "property-tax." Cf. "Econ." ii. 6.
[52] {telos}, vectigal. Sturz, "Lex. Xen." s.v. Cf. "Pol. Ath." i. 3.
And there is another thing. So long as I was rich, they threw in my teeth as a reproach that I was friends with Socrates, but now that I am become a beggar no one troubles his head two straws about the matter. Once more,
[38] Cf. Pind. "Pyth." x. 75.
[39] See "Cyrop." I. iv. 28; Shakesp. "Ven. and Ad." 89: "But when her lips were ready for his pay, he winks, and turns his lips another way."
[40] Or, "a kiss which is to passion as dry combustious matter is to fire," Shakesp. ib. 1162.
[41] Or, "is namesake of the love within the soul of lovers." The whole passage, involving a play on the words {philein phileisthai}, "where kisses rain without, love reigns within," is probably to be regarded as a gloss. Cf. "Mem." I. iii. 13.
[42] Cf. "Mem." I. iii. 8-14.
Then Charmides: Oh! Socrates, why will you scare your friends with these hobgoblin terrors,[43] bidding us all beware of handsome faces, whilst you yourself--yes, by Apollo, I will swear I saw you at the schoolmaster's[44] that time when both of you were poring over one book, in which you searched for something, you and Critobulus, head to head, shoulder to shoulder bare, as if incorporate?[45]
[43] Cf. Plat. "Crit." 46 D; "Hell." IV. iv. 17; Arist. "Birds," 1245.
[44] "Grammarian's." Plat. "Protag." 312 B; 326 D; Dem. 315. 8.
[45] Like Hermia and Helena, "Mids. N. D." iii. 2. 208.
As yes, alack the day! (he answered); and that is why, no doubt, my shoulder ached for more than five days afterwards, as if I had been bitten by some fell beast, and methought I felt a sort of scraping at the heart.[46] Now therefore, in the presence of these witnesses, I warn you, Critobulus, never again to touch me till you wear as thick a crop of hair[47] upon your chin as on your head.
[46] Reading {knisma}, "scratching." Plat. "Hipp. maj." 304 A. Al. {knesma}.
[47] See Jebb, "Theophr. Ch." xxiv. 16.
So pell-mell they went at it, half jest half earnest, and so the medley ended. Callias here called on Charmides.
Call. Now, Charmides, it lies with you to tell us why you pride yourself on poverty.[48]
[48] Zeune, cf. "Cyrop." VIII. iii. 35-50.
Charmides responded: On all hands it is admitted, I believe, that confidence is better than alarm; better to be a freeman than a slave; better to be worshipped than pay court to others; better to be trusted than to be suspected by one's country.
Well now, I will tell you how it fared with me in this same city when I was wealthy. First, I lived in daily terror lest some burglar should break into my house and steal my goods and do myself some injury. I cringed before informers.[49] I was obliged to pay these people court, because I knew that I could injure them far less than they could injure me. Never-ending the claims upon my pocket which the state enforced upon me; and as to setting foot abroad, that was beyond the range of possibility. But now that I have lost my property across the frontier,[50] and derive no income from my lands in Attica itself; now that my very household goods have been sold up, I stretch my legs at ease, I get a good night's rest. The distrust of my fellow-citizens has vanished; instead of trembling at threats, it is now my turn to threaten; at last I feel myself a freeman, with liberty to go abroad or stay at home as suits my fancy. The tables now are turned. It is the rich who rise to give me their seats, who stand aside and make way for me as I meet them in the streets. To-day I am like a despot, yesterday I was literally a slave; formerly it was I who had to pay my tribute[51] to the sovereign people, now it is I who am supported by the state by means of general taxation.[52]
[49] "And police agents."
[50] Cf. "Mem." II. viii. 1.
[51] {phoros}, tributum. Al. "property-tax." Cf. "Econ." ii. 6.
[52] {telos}, vectigal. Sturz, "Lex. Xen." s.v. Cf. "Pol. Ath." i. 3.
And there is another thing. So long as I was rich, they threw in my teeth as a reproach that I was friends with Socrates, but now that I am become a beggar no one troubles his head two straws about the matter. Once more,