from the great Euthyphro of the Prospaltian deme, who gave me a long
lecture which commenced at dawn: he talked and I listened, and his
wisdom and enchanting ravishment has not only filled my ears but taken
possession of my soul, and to-day I shall let his superhuman power work
and finish the investigation of names—that will be the way; but
to-morrow, if you are so disposed, we will conjure him away, and make a
purgation of him, if we can only find some priest or sophist who is
skilled in purifications of this sort.
HERMOGENES: With all my heart; for am very curious to hear the rest of
the enquiry about names.
SOCRATES: Then let us proceed; and where would you have us begin, now
that we have got a sort of outline of the enquiry? Are there any names
which witness of themselves that they are not given arbitrarily, but
have a natural fitness? The names of heroes and of men in general are
apt to be deceptive because they are often called after ancestors with
whose names, as we were saying, they may have no business; or they are
the expression of a wish like Eutychides (the son of good fortune), or
Sosias (the Saviour), or Theophilus (the beloved of God), and others.
But I think that we had better leave these, for there will be more
chance of finding correctness in the names of immutable essences;—there
ought to have been more care taken about them when they were named, and
perhaps there may have been some more than human power at work
occasionally in giving them names.
HERMOGENES: I think so, Socrates.
SOCRATES: Ought we not to begin with the consideration of the Gods, and
show that they are rightly named Gods?
HERMOGENES: Yes, that will be well.
SOCRATES: My notion would be something of this sort:—I suspect that the
sun, moon, earth, stars, and heaven, which are still the Gods of many
barbarians, were the only Gods known to the aboriginal Hellenes. Seeing
that they were always moving and running, from their running nature
they were called Gods or runners (Theous, Theontas); and when men
became acquainted with the other Gods, they proceeded to apply the same
name to them all. Do you think that likely?
HERMOGENES: I think it very likely indeed.
SOCRATES: What shall follow the Gods?
HERMOGENES: Must not demons and heroes and men come next?
SOCRATES: Demons! And what do you consider to be the meaning of this
word? Tell me if my view is right.
HERMOGENES: Let me hear.
SOCRATES: You know how Hesiod uses the word?
HERMOGENES: I do not.
SOCRATES: Do you not remember that he speaks of a golden race of men
who came first?
HERMOGENES: Yes, I do.
SOCRATES: He says of them—
“But now that fate has closed over this race They are holy demons upon
the earth, Beneficent, averters of ills, guardians of mortal men.”
(Hesiod, Works and Days.)
HERMOGENES: What is the inference?
SOCRATES: What is the inference! Why, I suppose that he means by the
golden men, not men literally made of gold, but good and noble; and I
am convinced of this, because he further says that we are the iron
race.
HERMOGENES: That is true.
SOCRATES: And do you not suppose that good men of our own day would by
him be said to be of golden race?
HERMOGENES: Very likely.
SOCRATES: And are not the good wise?
HERMOGENES: Yes, they are wise.
SOCRATES: And therefore I have the most entire conviction that he
called them demons, because they were daemones (knowing or wise), and
in our older Attic dialect the word itself occurs. Now he and other
poets say truly, that when a good man dies he has honour and a mighty
portion among the dead, and becomes a demon; which is a name given to
him signifying wisdom. And I say too, that every wise man who happens
to be a good man is more than human (daimonion) both in life and death,
and is rightly called a demon.
HERMOGENES: Then I rather think that I am of one mind with you; but
what is the meaning of the word “hero”? (Eros with an eta, in the old
writing eros with an epsilon.)
SOCRATES: I think that there is no difficulty in explaining, for the
name is not much altered, and signifies that they were born of love.
HERMOGENES: What do you mean?
SOCRATES: Do you not know that the heroes are demigods?
HERMOGENES: What then?
SOCRATES: All of them sprang either from the love of a God for a mortal
woman, or of a mortal man for a Goddess; think of the word in the old
Attic, and you will see better that the name heros is only a slight
alteration of Eros, from whom the heroes sprang: either this is the
meaning, or, if not this, then they must have been skilful as
rhetoricians and dialecticians, and able to put the question (erotan),
for eirein is equivalent to legein. And therefore, as I was saying, in
the Attic dialect the heroes turn out to be rhetoricians and
questioners. All this is easy enough; the noble breed of heroes are a
tribe of sophists and rhetors. But can you tell me why men are called
anthropoi?—that is more difficult.
HERMOGENES: No, I cannot; and I would not try even if I could, because
I think that you are the more likely to succeed.
SOCRATES: That is to say, you trust to the inspiration of Euthyphro.
HERMOGENES: Of course.
SOCRATES: Your faith is not vain; for at this very moment a new and
ingenious thought strikes me, and, if I am not careful, before
to-morrow’s dawn I shall be wiser than I ought to be. Now, attend to
me; and first, remember that we often put in and pull out letters in
words, and give names as we please and change the accents. Take, for
example, the word Dii Philos; in order to convert this from a sentence
into a noun, we omit one of the iotas and sound the middle syllable
grave instead of acute; as, on the other hand, letters are sometimes
inserted in words instead of being omitted, and the acute takes the
place of the grave.
HERMOGENES: That is true.
SOCRATES: The name anthropos, which was once a sentence, and is now a
noun, appears to be a case just of this sort, for one letter, which is
the alpha, has been omitted, and the acute on the last syllable has
been changed to a grave.
HERMOGENES: What do you mean?
SOCRATES: I mean to say that the word “man” implies that other animals
never examine, or consider, or look up at what they see, but that man
not only sees (opope) but considers and looks up at that which he sees,
and hence he alone of all animals is rightly anthropos, meaning
anathron a opopen.
HERMOGENES: May I ask you to examine another word about which I am
curious?
SOCRATES: Certainly.
HERMOGENES: I will take that which appears to me to follow next in
order. You know the distinction of soul and body?
SOCRATES: Of course.
HERMOGENES: Let us endeavour to analyze them like the previous words.
SOCRATES: You want me first of all to examine the natural fitness of
the word psuche (soul), and then of the word soma (body)?
HERMOGENES: Yes.
SOCRATES: If I am to say what occurs to me at the moment, I should
imagine that those who first used the name psuche meant to express that
the soul when in the body is the source of life, and gives the power of
breath and revival (anapsuchon), and when this reviving power fails
then the body perishes and dies, and this, if I am not mistaken, they
called psyche. But please stay a moment; I fancy that I can discover
something which will be more acceptable to the disciples of Euthyphro,
for I am afraid that they will scorn this explanation. What do you say
to another?
HERMOGENES: Let me hear.
SOCRATES: What is that which holds and carries and gives life and
motion to the entire nature of the body? What else but the soul?
HERMOGENES: Just that.
SOCRATES: And do you not believe with Anaxagoras, that mind or soul is
the ordering and containing principle of all things?
HERMOGENES: Yes; I do.
SOCRATES: Then you may well call that power phuseche which carries and
holds nature (e phusin okei, kai ekei), and this may be refined away
into psuche.
HERMOGENES: Certainly; and this derivation is, I think, more scientific
than the other.
SOCRATES: It is so; but I cannot help laughing, if I am to suppose that
this was the true meaning of the name.
HERMOGENES: But what shall we say of the next word?
SOCRATES: You mean soma (the body).
HERMOGENES: Yes.
SOCRATES: That may be variously interpreted; and yet more variously if
a little permutation is allowed. For some say that the body is the
grave (sema) of the soul which may be thought to be buried in our
present life; or again the index of the soul, because the soul gives
indications to (semainei) the body; probably the Orphic poets were the
inventors of the name, and they were under the impression that the soul
is suffering the punishment of sin, and that the body is an enclosure
or prison in which the soul is incarcerated, kept safe (soma, sozetai),
as the name soma implies, until the penalty is paid; according to this
view, not even a letter of the word need be changed.
HERMOGENES: I think, Socrates, that we have said enough of this class
of words. But have we any more explanations of the names of the Gods,
like that which you were giving of Zeus? I should like to know whether
any similar principle of correctness is to be applied to them.
SOCRATES: Yes, indeed, Hermogenes; and there is one excellent principle
which, as men of sense, we must acknowledge,—that of the Gods we know
nothing, either of their natures or of the names which they give
themselves; but we are sure that the names by which they call
themselves, whatever they may be, are true. And this is the best of all
principles; and the next best is to say, as in prayers, that we will
call them by any sort or kind of names or patronymics which they like,
because we do not know of any other. That also, I think, is a very good
custom, and one which I should much wish to observe. Let us, then, if
you please, in the first place announce to them that we are not
enquiring about them; we do not presume that we are able to do so; but
we are enquiring about the meaning of men in giving them these
names,—in this there can be small blame.
HERMOGENES: I think, Socrates, that you are quite right, and I would
like to do as you say.
SOCRATES: Shall we begin, then, with Hestia, according to custom?
HERMOGENES: Yes, that will be very proper.
SOCRATES: What may we suppose him to have meant who gave the name
Hestia?
HERMOGENES: That is another and certainly a most difficult question.
SOCRATES: My dear Hermogenes, the first imposers of names must surely
have been considerable persons; they were philosophers, and had a good
deal to say.
HERMOGENES: Well, and what of them?
SOCRATES: They are the men to whom I should attribute the imposition of
names. Even in foreign names, if you analyze them, a meaning is still
discernible. For example, that which we term ousia is by some called
esia, and by others again osia. Now that the essence of things should
be called estia, which is akin to the first of these (esia = estia), is
rational enough. And there is reason in the Athenians calling that
estia which participates in ousia. For in ancient times we too seem to
have said esia for ousia, and this you may note to have been the idea
of those who appointed that sacrifices should be first offered to
estia, which was natural enough if they meant that estia was the
essence of things. Those again who read osia seem to have inclined to
the opinion of Heracleitus, that all things flow and nothing stands;
with them the pushing principle (othoun) is the cause and ruling power
of all things, and is therefore rightly called osia. Enough of this,
which is all that we who know nothing can affirm. Next in order after
Hestia we ought to consider Rhea and Cronos, although the name of
Cronos has been already discussed. But I dare say that I am talking
great nonsense.
HERMOGENES: Why, Socrates?
SOCRATES: My good friend, I have discovered a hive of wisdom.
HERMOGENES: Of what nature?
SOCRATES: Well, rather ridiculous, and yet plausible.
HERMOGENES: How plausible?
SOCRATES: I fancy to myself Heracleitus repeating wise traditions of
antiquity as old as the days of Cronos and Rhea, and of which Homer
also spoke.
HERMOGENES: How do you mean?
SOCRATES: Heracleitus is supposed to say that all things are in motion
and nothing at rest; he compares them to the stream of a river, and
says that you cannot go into the same water twice.
HERMOGENES: That is true.
SOCRATES: Well, then, how can we avoid inferring that he who gave the
names of Cronos and Rhea to the ancestors of the Gods, agreed pretty
much in the doctrine of Heracleitus? Is the giving of the names of
streams to both of them purely accidental? Compare the line in which
Homer, and, as I believe, Hesiod also, tells of
“Ocean, the origin of Gods, and mother Tethys (Il.—the line is not
found in the extant works of Hesiod.).”
And again, Orpheus says, that
“The fair river of Ocean was the first to marry, and he espoused his
sister Tethys, who was his mother’s daughter.”
You see that this is a remarkable coincidence, and all in the direction
of Heracleitus.
HERMOGENES: I think that there is something in what you say, Socrates;
but I do not understand the meaning of the name Tethys.
SOCRATES: Well, that is almost self-explained, being only the name of a
spring, a little disguised; for that which is strained and filtered
(diattomenon, ethoumenon) may be likened to a spring, and the name
Tethys is made up of these two words.
HERMOGENES: The idea is ingenious, Socrates.
SOCRATES: To be sure. But what comes next?—of Zeus we have spoken.
HERMOGENES: Yes.
SOCRATES: Then let us next take his two brothers, Poseidon and Pluto,
whether the latter is called by that or by his other name.
HERMOGENES: By all means.
SOCRATES: Poseidon is Posidesmos, the chain of the feet; the original
inventor of the name had been stopped by the watery element in his
walks, and not allowed to go on, and therefore he called the ruler of
this element Poseidon; the epsilon was probably inserted as an
ornament. Yet, perhaps, not so; but the name may have been originally
written with a double lamda and not with a sigma, meaning that the God
knew many things (Polla eidos). And perhaps also he being the shaker of
the earth, has been named from shaking (seiein), and then pi and delta
have been added. Pluto gives wealth (Ploutos), and his name means the
giver of wealth, which comes out of the earth beneath. People in
general appear to imagine that the term Hades is connected with the
invisible (aeides) and so they are led by their fears to call the God
Pluto instead.
HERMOGENES: And what is the true derivation?
SOCRATES: In spite of the mistakes which are made about the power of
this deity, and the foolish fears which people have of him, such as the
fear of always being with him after death, and of the soul denuded of
the body going to him (compare Rep.), my belief is that all is quite
consistent, and that the office and name of the God really correspond.
HERMOGENES: Why, how is that?
SOCRATES: I will tell you my own opinion; but first, I should like to
ask you which chain does any animal feel to be the stronger? and which
confines him more to the same spot,—desire or necessity?
HERMOGENES: Desire, Socrates, is stronger far.
SOCRATES: And do you not think that many a one would escape from Hades,
if he did not bind those who depart to him by the strongest of chains?
HERMOGENES: Assuredly they would.
SOCRATES: And if by the greatest of chains, then by some desire, as I
should certainly infer, and not by necessity?
HERMOGENES: That is clear.
SOCRATES: And there are many desires?
HERMOGENES: Yes.
SOCRATES: And therefore by the greatest desire, if the chain is to be
the greatest?
HERMOGENES: Yes.
SOCRATES: And is any desire stronger than the thought that you will be
made better by associating with another?
HERMOGENES: Certainly not.
SOCRATES: And is not that the reason, Hermogenes, why no one, who has
been to him, is willing to come back to us? Even the Sirens, like all
the rest of the world, have been laid under his spells. Such a charm,
as I imagine, is the God able to infuse into his words. And, according
to this view, he is the perfect and accomplished Sophist, and the great
benefactor of the inhabitants of the other world; and even to us who
are upon earth he sends from below exceeding blessings. For he has much
more than he wants down there; wherefore he is called Pluto (or the
rich). Note also, that he will have nothing to do with men while they
are in the body, but only when the soul is liberated from the desires
and evils of the body. Now there is a great deal of philosophy and
reflection in that; for in their liberated state he can bind them with
the desire of virtue, but while they are flustered and maddened by the
body, not even father Cronos himself would suffice to keep them with
him in his own far-famed chains.
HERMOGENES: There is a deal of truth in what you say.
SOCRATES: Yes, Hermogenes, and the legislator called him Hades, not
from the unseen (aeides)—far otherwise, but from his knowledge
(eidenai) of all noble things.
HERMOGENES: Very good; and what do we say of Demeter, and Here, and
Apollo, and Athene, and Hephaestus, and Ares, and the other deities?
SOCRATES: Demeter is e didousa meter, who gives food like a mother;
Here is the lovely one (erate)—for Zeus, according to tradition, loved
and married her; possibly also the name may have been given when the
legislator was thinking of the heavens, and may be only a disguise of
the air (aer), putting the end in the place of the beginning. You will
recognize the truth of this if you repeat the letters of Here several
times over. People dread the name of Pherephatta as they dread the name
of Apollo,—and with as little reason; the fear, if I am not mistaken,
only arises from their ignorance of the nature of names. But they go
changing the name into Phersephone, and they are terrified at this;
whereas the new name means only that the Goddess is wise (sophe); for
seeing that all things in the world are in motion (pheromenon), that
principle which embraces and touches and is able to follow them, is
wisdom. And therefore the Goddess may be truly called Pherepaphe
(Pherepapha), or some name like it, because she touches that which is
in motion (tou pheromenon ephaptomene), herein showing her wisdom. And
Hades, who is wise, consorts with her, because she is wise. They alter
her name into Pherephatta now-a-days, because the present generation
care for euphony more than truth. There is the other name, Apollo,
which, as I was saying, is generally supposed to have some terrible
signification. Have you remarked this fact?
HERMOGENES: To be sure I have, and what you say is true.
SOCRATES: But the name, in my opinion, is really most expressive of the
power of the God.
HERMOGENES: How so?
SOCRATES: I will endeavour to explain, for I do not believe that any
single name could have been better adapted to express the attributes of
the God, embracing and in a manner signifying all four of them,—music,
and prophecy, and medicine, and archery.
HERMOGENES: That must be a strange name, and I should like to hear the
explanation.
SOCRATES: Say rather an harmonious name, as beseems the God of Harmony.
In the first place, the purgations and purifications which doctors and
diviners use, and their fumigations with drugs magical or medicinal, as
well as their washings and lustral sprinklings, have all one and the
same object, which is to make a man pure both in body and soul.
HERMOGENES: Very true.
SOCRATES: And is not Apollo the purifier, and the washer, and the
absolver from all impurities?
HERMOGENES: Very true.
SOCRATES: Then in reference to his ablutions and absolutions, as being
the physician who orders them, he may be rightly called Apolouon
(purifier); or in respect of his powers of divination, and his truth
and sincerity, which is the same as truth, he may be most fitly called
Aplos, from aplous (sincere), as in the Thessalian dialect, for all the
Thessalians call him Aplos; also he is aei Ballon (always shooting),
because he is a master archer who never misses; or again, the name may
refer to his musical attributes, and then, as in akolouthos, and
akoitis, and in many other words the alpha is supposed to mean
“together,” so the meaning of the name Apollo will be “moving
together,” whether in the poles of heaven as they are called, or in the
harmony of song, which is termed concord, because he moves all together
by an harmonious power, as astronomers and musicians ingeniously
declare. And he is the God who presides over harmony, and makes all
things move together, both among Gods and among men. And as in the
words akolouthos and akoitis the alpha is substituted for an omicron,
so the name Apollon is equivalent to omopolon; only the second lambda
is added in order to avoid the ill-omened sound of destruction
(apolon). Now the suspicion of this destructive power still haunts the
minds of some who do not consider the true value of the name, which, as
I was saying just now, has reference to all the powers of the God, who
is the single one, the everdarting, the purifier, the mover together
(aplous, aei Ballon, apolouon, omopolon). The name of the Muses and of
music would seem to be derived from their making philosophical
enquiries (mosthai); and Leto is called by this name, because she is
such a gentle Goddess, and so willing (ethelemon) to grant our
requests; or her name may be Letho, as she is often called by
strangers—they seem to imply by it her amiability, and her smooth and
easy-going way of behaving. Artemis is named from her healthy
(artemes), well-ordered nature, and because of her love of virginity,
perhaps because she is a proficient in virtue (arete), and perhaps also
as hating intercourse of the sexes (ton aroton misesasa). He who gave
the Goddess her name may have had any or all of these reasons.
HERMOGENES: What is the meaning of Dionysus and Aphrodite?
SOCRATES: Son of Hipponicus, you ask a solemn question; there is a
serious and also a facetious explanation of both these names; the
serious explanation is not to be had from me, but there is no objection
to your hearing the facetious one; for the Gods too love a joke.
Dionusos is simply didous oinon (giver of wine), Didoinusos, as he
might be called in fun,—and oinos is properly oionous, because wine
makes those who drink, think (oiesthai) that they have a mind (noun)
when they have none. The derivation of Aphrodite, born of the foam
(aphros), may be fairly accepted on the authority of Hesiod.
HERMOGENES: Still there remains Athene, whom you, Socrates, as an
Athenian, will surely not forget; there are also Hephaestus and Ares.
SOCRATES: I am not likely to forget them.
HERMOGENES: No, indeed.
SOCRATES: There is no difficulty in explaining the other appellation of
Athene.
HERMOGENES: What other appellation?
SOCRATES: We call her Pallas.
HERMOGENES: To be sure.
SOCRATES: And we cannot be wrong in supposing that this is derived from
armed dances. For the elevation of oneself or anything else above the
earth, or by the use of the hands, we call shaking (pallein), or
dancing.
HERMOGENES: That is quite true.
SOCRATES: Then that is the explanation of the name Pallas?
HERMOGENES: Yes; but what do you say of the other name?
SOCRATES: Athene?
HERMOGENES: Yes.
SOCRATES: That is a graver matter, and there, my friend, the modern
interpreters of Homer may, I think, assist in explaining the view of
the ancients. For most of these in their explanations of the poet,
assert that he meant by Athene “mind” (nous) and “intelligence”
(dianoia), and the maker of names appears to have had a singular notion
about her; and indeed calls her by a still higher title, “divine
intelligence” (Thou noesis), as though he would say: This is she who
has the mind of God (Theonoa);—using alpha as a dialectical variety for
eta, and taking away iota and sigma (There seems to be some error in
the MSS. The meaning is that the word theonoa = theounoa is a curtailed
form of theou noesis, but the omitted letters do not agree.). Perhaps,
however, the name Theonoe may mean “she who knows divine things” (Theia
noousa) better than others. Nor shall we be far wrong in supposing that
the author of it wished to identify this Goddess with moral
intelligence (en ethei noesin), and therefore gave her the name
ethonoe; which, however, either he or his successors have altered into
what they thought a nicer form, and called her Athene.
HERMOGENES: But what do you say of Hephaestus?
SOCRATES: Speak you of the princely lord of light (Phaeos istora)?
HERMOGENES: Surely.