_Socr._ To call them wise, Phædrus, appears to me to be a great matter,
and proper for God alone; but lovers of wisdom, or some such name, would
suit them better, and be in better taste.
_Phæ._ And it would be nothing out of the way.
_Socr._ Him, therefore, who has nothing more valuable than what he has
written, by turning it upwards and downwards for a long time, patching
and clipping it bit by bit, may you not justly designate a poet, or a
compiler of speeches, or a writer of laws?
_Phæ._ How not?
_Socr._ Tell this, then, to your friend.
_Phæ._ But you? what will you do? For we must not pass over your friend.
_Socr._ Whom do you mean?
146. _Phæ._ The beautiful Isocrates. What news will you take him,
Socrates? what shall we say he is?
_Socr._ Isocrates is still young, Phædrus; but what I prophesy of him I
am willing to say.
_Phæ._ What?
_Socr._ He appears to me to have better natural endowments than to be
compared with the speeches of Lysias, and moreover to be endued with a
nobler disposition, so that it would not be at all wonderful if, as he
advances in age, he should in this very pursuit of speech-making, to
which he is now applying himself, surpass all who have ever attempted
speeches, as if they were boys, and besides, if he should not be content
with this, that a more divine impulse may lead him to greater things;
for, my friend, there is a natural love of wisdom in the mind of the
man. This message, then, I will take from the gods of this spot to
Isocrates my favourite, and do you take the other to Lysias as yours.
147. _Phæ._ This shall be done. But let us depart, since the heat has
become less oppressive.
_Socr._ Ought we not to go after we have prayed to these gods?
_Phæ._ How not?
_Socr._ O beloved Pan, and all ye other gods of this place, grant me to
become beautiful in the inner man, and that whatever outward things I
have may be at peace with those within. May I deem the wise man rich,
and may I have such a portion of gold as none but a prudent man can
either bear or employ.
Do we need any thing else, Phædrus? for myself I have prayed enough.
_Phæ._ Make the same prayer for me, too; for the possessions of friends
are common.
_Socr._ Let us depart.