Phaedrus
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~37,900 words · 180 passages
Cite this work
- APAPlato. (n.d.). Phaedrus. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/plato/phaedrus
- MLAPlato. Phaedrus. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/plato/phaedrus.
- ChicagoPlato. Phaedrus. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/plato/phaedrus.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
A conversation in the shade of a plane tree by the river, on love, beauty and rhetoric. It contains the image of the soul as a chariot drawn by two horses and, at the end, a famous distrust of writing.
Context and history
The only dialogue set outside the city, and the landscape matters. The closing pages — Socrates arguing that writing will weaken memory and give the appearance of wisdom without the thing — get quoted whenever a new technology of the word appears, from the printing press to machines that write.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
animal who is guided by word and admonition only, the other an ill-looking villain who will hardly yield to blow or spur. Together all three, who are a figure of the soul, approach the vision of love. And now a fierce conflict begins. The ill-conditioned steed rushes on to enjoy, but the charioteer, who beholds the beloved with awe, falls back in adoration, and forces both the steeds on their haunches; again the evil steed rushes forwards and pulls shamelessly. The conflict grows more and more severe; and at last the charioteer, throwing himself backwards, forces the bit out of the clenched teeth of the brute, and pulling harder than ever at the reins, covers his tongue and jaws with blood, and forces him to rest his legs and haunches with pain upon the ground. When this has happened several times, the villain is tamed and humbled, and from that time forward the soul of the lover follows the beloved in modesty and holy fear. And now their bliss is consummated; the same image of love dwells in the breast of either, and if they have self-control, they pass their lives in the greatest happiness which is attainable by man--they continue masters of themselves, and conquer in one of the three heavenly victories. But if they choose the lower life of ambition they may still have a happy destiny, though inferior, because they have not the approval of the whole soul. At last they leave the body and proceed on their pilgrim's progress, and those who have once begun can never go back. When the time comes they receive their wings and fly away, and the lovers have the same wings. Socrates concludes:-- These are the blessings of love, and thus have I made my recantation in finer language than before: I did so in order to please Phaedrus. If I said what was wrong at first, please to attribute my error to Lysias, who ought to study philosophy instead of rhetoric, and then he will not mislead his disciple Phaedrus.…