Socrates holds a conversation with Theodota, a courtesan famed for her beauty, on the best method of winning and keeping friends. Beauty alone cannot accomplish this: there must be added good nature and moderation in the bestowal of favors. Theodota expresses a willingness to learn from Socratesthe art of winning lovers.
Θεοδότη: afterward the mistress of Alcibiades, whom she is said to have buried after he was slain in Phrygia. Cf. Cornelius Nep. Alc. 10. 6. Plutarch (Alc. 39) says it was Timandra who buried him.
οἵας: ready. See on i. 4. 6.
τῷ πείθοντι: sc. by solicitation or gifts.
κρεῖττον εἴη λόγου: equivalent to κρεῖττον ἢ ὥστε λέγειν “was beyond the power of description.” Cf. (with the adj. in unfavorable sense) κρεῖσσον λόγου τὸ εἶδος τῆς νόσου Thuc. ii. 50.
ἐπιδεικνύειν: for the inf., see on ὧν εἶναι i. 1. 8.
ἑαυτῆς: of her person.
ὅσα καλῶς ἔχοι: “as much as decorum permitted.”
θεασομένους: acc., since ἰτέον ἂν εἶναι is equivalent to δέοι ἂν ἰέναι. See GMT. 923; H. 991 a.
οὐ γὰρ ... καταμαθεῖν: for it is impossible to judge by hearsay of that which passes description.
ὁ διηγησάμενος: i.e. the first speaker, introduced above by the words μνησθέντος τινός.
οὐκ ἂν φθάνοιτ̓ ἀκολουθοῦντες: see on ii.3.11.
παρεστηκυῖαν: posing, as model. The pf. marks the ‘pose’ as already assumed.
ταύτην (with ἑκτέον): acc. like θεασαμένους in 1.
θέα: sight.
ὠφελήσεται: in pass. sense. Cf. iii.3.15, 7. 9.
ὑποκνιζόμενοι: with a sting in us.
θεραπεύεσθαι: “receive our homage.”
εἰ ἔχει, ἂν δέοι: for the ‘mixed’ form of cond., see on i.2.45.
θεραπείᾳ οὐ τῇ τυχούσῃ: ornaments of no ordinary kind. Cf. τὰ τυχόντα i. 1. 14. For the costume of Greek women, see Becker, Charicles, p. 247.
οὐδὲ ταύτας ἠμελημένως ἔχουσας: cf. Terence's description of a meretrix, ancillas adduxit plus decem, oneratas veste atque auro Heaut. iii. 1. 40.
τοῖς ἄλλοις: in all other respects.
ἀφθόνως κατεσκευασμένην: lavishly furnished.
χειροτέχναι: skilled slaves, by the sale of whose labor their mistress might profit.
οὗτός μοι βίος ἐστί: he constitutes my livelihood.
νὴ τὴν Ἥραν: see on i.5.5.
ὀΐων, βοῶν: sc. ἀγέλην with ἤ before ὀΐων. For the condensed comparison, see on τῶν ἄλλων i. 1. 3, and, for the form of ὀΐων, on ii. 7. 13.
ἐπιτρέπεις: do you leave it to.
ἐάν: whether.
τούτου: for this purpose.
προσηκόντως: fitly.
τροφῇ: for food. See on δούλοις ii. 1. 12.
οὕτως γε ἀτέχνως: so, without any artifice.
ἄγρευμα: game.
κύνας νυκτερευτικάς: dogs which hunt by night. For the gender, see on iv.1.3.
μεθ᾽ ἡμέραν: after day has dawned.
ᾗ: sc. ὁδῷ. The clause is obj. of αἰσθανόμεναι.
εὐνήν: the hare's lair or ‘form.’
ἐκ τοῦ φανεροῦ: “in full view.”
κτήσῃ: sc. φίλον. The omitted apod. is readily supplied.
ὡς ἐμβλέπουσα: with what kind of looks.
τὸν ἐπιμελόμενον: the attentive lover, opposed to τὸν τρυφῶντα the self-conceited, insolent one.
ὑποδέχεσθαι, ἀποκλείειν: pres., denoting customary action; the aor. infs. in the next sent. indicate special cases.
κεχαρίσθαι: to be devoted.
εὖ οἷδ᾽ ὅτι: see on iii.6.10.
καὶ μήν: and yet.
πολὺ διαφέρει: multum interest, it is of great importance. So in iii. 12. 5.
θηρίον: creature, appropriately used of man, after the illustrations in 6 and 7.
τοιαῦτα: sc. ποιεῖν.
οἷα ποιοῦσιν αὐτοῖς κτλ.: “as will least trouble them to perform.”
αὐτήν: you yourself.
τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον: i.e. as freely as they oblige you.
μέγιστα: for the neut. adj. representing a cognate acc., see on i.1.11.
δεομένοις: only when they request them.
τὰ παρὰ σεαυτῆς: “your favors.”—ὁρᾶς γὰρ ὅτι κτλ.: cf. the contrast between the followers of Vice and those of Virtue ii. 1. 30, 33.
βδελυγμίαν: loathing.
τῶν παρ᾽ ἐμοί: const. with λιμόν.
εἰ προσφέροις: sc. τὰ παρὰ σεαυτῆς. The omitted apod. is easily supplied from the preceding sentence. So with ἐὰν πείθῃς 15.
ἔπειτα: without δέ, as often in Xenophon. See on i. 2. 1.
ὡς κοσμιωτάτῃ ὁμιλίᾳ: by the most modest demeanor.
τῷ φαίνεσθαι βουλομένη, καὶ διαφεύγουσα: by showing yourself desirous (to please), and yet drawing back. Socrates is ‘giving points’ to a professional coquette. For the nom. of the participles, see on τῷ φανερὸς εἶναι τοιοῦτος ὤν i. 2. 3.
πολὺ διαφέρει: it is far better.
τί οὖν οὐ σὺ ἐγένου: why then do you not become. The aor. implies surprise that the action has not taken place, and hence conveys a more emphatic invitation than the pres. would. GMT. 62; H. 839. Cf. iv.6.14.
εἴσιθι: sc. εἰς τὴν ἐμὴν οἰκίαν.
δημόσια: said in jest, as Socrates took no part in public affairs. Cf. i.6.15.
φίλαι: he playfully uses the fem. in speaking of his friends.
φίλτρα, ἐπῳδάς: cf. ii.6.10 ff. On the real meaning of ἐπῳδάς, cf. τὰς δ᾽ ἐπῳδὰς ταύτας τοὺς λόγους εἶναι τοὺς καλούς Plato Charm. 157 A, also Phaedo 114 D.
Ἀπολλόδωρον: one of the most devoted companions of Socrates, mentioned by Plato as present both at the trial (Apol. 34A) and at the death scene in the cell (Phaedo 117 D), where his almost hysterical grief was rebuked by the philosopher.
Ἀντισθένην: see on ii.5.1.
Κέβητα καὶ Σιμμίαν: see on i.2.48. These, as well as Antisthenes and Apollodorus, were present at the death of Socrates.
ἰύγγων: magic wheels. The ἴυγξ was a small bird (Lat. torquilla, Fr. torcou, Ger. Wendehals, Eng. ‘wryneck’), which, when bound to a revolving wheel, was supposed by its motions to influence the affections; hence its name was applied to the wheel.
χρῆσόν μοι: lend me.
ἐπὶ σοὶ ἕλκω: set it spinning for you, the usual phrase for putting the ἴυγξ in motion. For ἐπὶ σοί, see on ἐφ᾽ οἷς σπουδάσειεν i. 3. 11.
φιλωτέρα: see on φίλαι 16. For various forms of the comp. of φίλος, see L. & S. s.v.
ἐὰν ... ἔνδον ᾖ: wittily said, for the usual excuse of the ἑταῖραι in shutting out a would-be visitor was ἔνδον ἕτερος. Cf. ἀπέκλεισα ἐλθόντα, ‘Ἔνδον ἕτερος’ εἰποῦσα Lucian Dial. Meretr. xii. 310. The whole conversation is inconceivable from a modern standpoint, remembering who and what the speakers were; but it throws a strong side light on one phase of Greek society.
