Phaedrtis. and hence he is full of admiration for the beauties of nature, which
Analysis, he seems to be drinking in for the first time.
As they are on their way, Phaedrus asks the opinion of Socrates
respecting the local tradition of Boreas and Oreithyia. Socrates,
after a satirical allusion to the ' rationalizers ' of his day, replies
that he has no time for these 'nice ' interpretations of mythology,
and he pities any one who has. When you once begin there is no
end of them, and they spring from an uncritical philosophy after
all. ' The proper study of mankind is man ; ' and he is a far more
complex and wonderful being than the serpent Typho. Socrates 230
as yet does not know himself; and why should he care to know
about unearthly monsters ? Engaged in such conversation, they
arrive at the plane-tree ; when they have found a convenient
resting-place, Phaedrus pulls out the speech and reads : — ■
The speech consists of a foolish paradox which is to the effect
that the non-lover ought to be accepted rather than the lover — 231
because he is more rational, more agreeable, more enduring, less
suspicious, less hurtful, less boastful, less engrossing, and because
there are more of them, and for a great many other reasons which
are equally unmeaning. Phaedrus is captivated with the beauty of
the periods, and wants to make Socrates say that nothing was or
ever could be written better. Socrates does not think much of 235
the matter, but then he has only attended to the form, and in that
he has detected several repetitions and other marks of haste. He
cannot agree with Phaedrus in the extreme value which he sets
upon this performance, because he is afraid of doing injustice to
Anacreon and Sappho and other great writers, and is almost
inclined to think that he himself, or rather some power residing
within him, could make a speech better than that of Lysias on the
same theme, and also different from his, if he may be allowed the 236
use of a few commonplaces which all speakers must equally
employ.
Phaedrus is delighted at the prospect of having another speech,
and promises that he will set up a golden statue of Socrates at
Delphi, if he keeps his word. Some raillery ensues, and at length
Socrates, conquered by the threat that he shall never again
hear a speech of Lysias unless he fulfils his promise, veils his face 237
and begins.
First, invoking the Muses and assumingironically the person of
