_Socr._ But as regards elegance and inelegance in writing, in what way
it may be done well, and in what way inelegantly, remains to be
considered. Does it not?
_Phæ._ Yes.
_Socr._ Do you know, then, how you may best please God with regard to
speeches, both acting and speaking?
_Phæ._ Not at all. Do you?
_Socr._ I can tell a story I have heard of the ancients, its truth they
know. But if we ourselves could discover this, do you think we should
any longer pay any regard to the opinions of men?
_Phæ._ Your question is ridiculous; but relate what you say you have
heard.
134. _Socr._ I have heard then, that at Naucratis, in Egypt, there was
one of the ancient gods of that country, to whom was consecrated the
bird, which they call Ibis; but the name of the deity himself was
Theuth. That he was the first to invent numbers and arithmetic, and
geometry and astronomy, and moreover draughts and dice, and especially
letters, at the time when Thamus was king of all Egypt, and dwelt in the
great city of the upper region which the Greeks call Egyptian Thebes,
but the god they call Ammon; to him Theuth went and shewed him his arts,
and told him that they ought to be distributed amongst the rest of the
Egyptians. Thamus asked him what was the use of each, and as he
explained it, according as he appeared to say well or ill, he either
blamed or praised them. 135. Now Thamus is reported to have said many
things to Theuth respecting each art, both for and against it, which it
would be tedious to relate. But when they came to the letters, “This
knowledge, O king,” said Theuth, “will make the Egyptians wiser, and
better able to remember; for it has been invented as a medicine for
memory and wisdom.” But he replied, “Most ingenious Theuth, one person
is able to give birth to art, another to judge of what amount of
detriment or advantage it will be to those who are to use it, and now
you, as being the father of letters, out of fondness have attributed to
them just the contrary effect to that which they will have. For this
invention will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn it
through the neglect of memory, for that through trusting to writing,
they will remember outwardly by means of foreign marks, and not inwardly
by means of their own faculties. So that you have not discovered a
medicine for memory, but for recollection. And you are providing for
your disciples the appearance and not the reality of wisdom. For hearing
many things through your means without instruction, they will appear to
know a great deal, although they are for the most part ignorant, and
will become troublesome associates, through thinking themselves wise
instead of being so.”
136. _Phæ._ Socrates, you easily make Egyptian and any other country’s
tales you please.
_Socr._ But, my friend, those who dwell in the temple of Dodonæan
Jupiter said that the first prophetic words issued from an oak. It was
sufficient for the men of those days, seeing they were not wise like you
moderns, in their simplicity, to listen to an oak and a stone, if only
they spoke the truth: and does it make any difference to you, forsooth,
who the speaker is, and to what country he belongs? For you do not
consider that only, whether the case is so or otherwise.
_Phæ._ You have very properly reproved me; and the case with regard to
letters appears to me just as the Theban says.
137. _Socr._ He therefore, who thinks to leave an art in writing, and
again, he who receives it, as if something clear and solid would result
from the writing, must be full of simplicity, and in reality ignorant of
the prophecy of Ammon, since he thinks that written words are of further
value than to remind one who already knows the subject of which the
writings treat.
_Phæ._ Most correct.
_Socr._ For writing, indeed, Phædrus, has this inconvenience, and truly
resembles painting. For its productions stand out as if they were alive,
but, if you ask them any question, they observe a solemn silence. And so
it is with written discourses; you would think that they spoke as though
they possessed some wisdom, but if you ask them about any thing they
say, from a desire to understand it, they give only one and the
self-same answer. And when it is once written, every discourse is tossed
about every where, equally among those who understand it, and among
those whom it in no wise concerns, and it knows not to whom it ought to
speak, and to whom not. And when it is ill-treated and unjustly reviled,
it always needs its father to help it; for, of itself, it can neither
defend nor help itself.