Friday, October 07, 2011

Platonic Syntax in the ION Dialogue, 532-D,E Pt.2

*******

Σωκράτης: βουλοίμην ἄν σε ἀληθῆ λέγειν, ὦ Ἴων: ἀλλὰ σοφοὶ μέν πού ἐστε
ὑμεῖς οἱ ῥαψῳδοὶ καὶ ὑποκριταὶ καὶ ὧν ὑμεῖς ᾁδετε τὰ ποιήματα, ἐγὼ δὲ οὐδὲν
ἄλλο ἢ τἀληθῆ λέγω, [532e] οἷον εἰκὸς ἰδιώτην ἄνθρωπον. ἐπεὶ καὶ περὶ τούτου
οὗ νῦν ἠρόμην σε, θέασαι ὡς φαῦλον καὶ ἰδιωτικόν ἐστι καὶ παντὸς ἀνδρὸς
γνῶναι ὃ ἔλεγον, τὴν αὐτὴν εἶναι σκέψιν, ἐπειδάν τις ὅλην τέχνην λάβῃ.
λάβωμεν γὰρ τῷ λόγῳ: γραφικὴ γάρ τίς ἐστι τέχνη τὸ ὅλον;


My Englishment Soc: Oh, how I wish that you would tell the truth, Ion! But surely it
is you rhapsodes and expounders and the men, whose poems you keep singing,
that are wise. I however speak nothing other than naked truth such as seems
right to a common man. And then about this thing regarding which I asked you
just now, notice how simple and commonplace is what I just uttered: even
everyman knows the consideration is the same whenever anyone has mastered an
art: he has the whole of it.

Paul Baronoweki SOC: I would wish that you were telling the truth, Ion: but, in
reality, it is you rhapsodes and interpreters and they who sing [chant] the
poems who are wise, but I say nothing but the truth, the same as a common
man. Seeing also that I asked you about this (question) just now, observe
how paltry and amateurish it is and (in the power of) every man to know what
I mean, the inquiry is the same,whenever anyone comprehends an art as a
whole. Let us assume by analogy: Is (the art of) painting some art as a
whole?

Hilde Munro Socrates: I wish your words were true, Ion: but I suppose it's you
rhapsodes and actors who are wise, and they whose poems you sing, but I just
tell the truth, like a simple layman. And as for what I asked you just now,
see how ordinary and commonplace my theory is – something that any man might
discover – that when one has acquired an art as a whole it is the same
method of examination. Let's take an example for this assertion: Painting is
an art as a whole?

Michael F Pajack Socrates: If only you were right, Ion, but it is perhaps you rhapsodes and actors and the men whose poems you sing who are wise; I merely speak the truth as it befits an unskilled man. For concerning these matters which I
asked you just now, look how simple and unskilled it is, and what I said is
within the capacity of every man to know, that the mode of inquiry is the
same when anyone has grasped a whole art. For let us take one art for the
benefit of our discussion. For example, there is an art of painting as a
whole?

*****

No comments: