[392a]
Socrates
Well, do you not think this is a grand thing to know, that the name of that river is rightly Xanthus, rather than Scamander? Or, if you like, do you think it is a slight thing to learn about the bird which he says “gods call chalcis, but men call cymindis,
”Hom. Il. 14.291 that it is much more correct for the same bird to be called chalcis than cymindis? Or to learn that the hill men call Batieia is called by the gods Myrina's tomb,1 and many other such statements by Homer and other poets? [392b] But perhaps these matters are too high for us to understand; it is, I think, more within human power to investigate the names Scamandrius and Astyanax, and understand what kind of correctness he ascribes to these, which he says are the names of Hector's son. You recall, of course: the lines which contain the words to which I refer.Hermogenes
Certainly.Socrates
Which of the names of the boy do you imagine Homer thought was more correct, Astyanax or Scamandrius? [392c] Hermogenes
I cannot say.Socrates
Look at it in this way: suppose you were asked, “Do the wise or the unwise give names more correctly?”Hermogenes
“The wise, obviously,” I should say.Socrates
And do you think the women or the men of a city, regarded as a class in general, are the wiser?Hermogenes
The men.Socrates
And do you not know that Homer says the child of Hector was called Astyanax by the men of Troy;2 [392d] so he must have been called Scamandrius by the women, since the men called him Astyanax?Hermogenes
Yes, probably.Socrates
And Homer too thought the Trojan men were wiser than the women?Hermogenes
I suppose he did.Socrates
Then he thought Astyanax was more rightly the boy's name than Scamandrius?Hermogenes
So it appears.Socrates
Let us, then, consider the reason for this. Does he not himself indicate the reason most admirably? For he says— [392e] “He alone defended their city and long walls.
”Hom. Il. 22.5073 Therefore, as it seems, it is right to call the son of the defender Astyanax (Lord of the city), ruler of that which his father, as Homer says, defended.Hermogenes
That is clear to me.Socrates
Indeed? I do not yet understand about it myself, Hermogenes. Do you?Hermogenes
No, by Zeus, I do not.
Well, do you not think this is a grand thing to know, that the name of that river is rightly Xanthus, rather than Scamander? Or, if you like, do you think it is a slight thing to learn about the bird which he says “gods call chalcis, but men call cymindis,
”Hom. Il. 14.291 that it is much more correct for the same bird to be called chalcis than cymindis? Or to learn that the hill men call Batieia is called by the gods Myrina's tomb,1 and many other such statements by Homer and other poets? [392b] But perhaps these matters are too high for us to understand; it is, I think, more within human power to investigate the names Scamandrius and Astyanax, and understand what kind of correctness he ascribes to these, which he says are the names of Hector's son. You recall, of course: the lines which contain the words to which I refer.Hermogenes
Certainly.Socrates
Which of the names of the boy do you imagine Homer thought was more correct, Astyanax or Scamandrius? [392c] Hermogenes
I cannot say.Socrates
Look at it in this way: suppose you were asked, “Do the wise or the unwise give names more correctly?”Hermogenes
“The wise, obviously,” I should say.Socrates
And do you think the women or the men of a city, regarded as a class in general, are the wiser?Hermogenes
The men.Socrates
And do you not know that Homer says the child of Hector was called Astyanax by the men of Troy;2 [392d] so he must have been called Scamandrius by the women, since the men called him Astyanax?Hermogenes
Yes, probably.Socrates
And Homer too thought the Trojan men were wiser than the women?Hermogenes
I suppose he did.Socrates
Then he thought Astyanax was more rightly the boy's name than Scamandrius?Hermogenes
So it appears.Socrates
Let us, then, consider the reason for this. Does he not himself indicate the reason most admirably? For he says— [392e] “He alone defended their city and long walls.
”Hom. Il. 22.5073 Therefore, as it seems, it is right to call the son of the defender Astyanax (Lord of the city), ruler of that which his father, as Homer says, defended.Hermogenes
That is clear to me.Socrates
Indeed? I do not yet understand about it myself, Hermogenes. Do you?Hermogenes
No, by Zeus, I do not.
