[495c]
“Those, then, to whom she properly belongs, thus falling away
and leaving philosophy forlorn and unwedded, themselves live an unreal and
alien life, while other unworthy wooers1 rush in and defile
her as an orphan bereft of her kin,2 and attach to
her such reproaches as you say her revilers taunt her with, declaring that
some of her consorts are of no account and the many accountable for many
evils.” “Why, yes,” he replied,
“that is what they do say.” “And
plausibly,” said I; “for other mannikins, observing that
the place is unoccupied and full of fine terms and pretensions,
1 Cf. on 489 D, and Theaet. 173 C.
2 Cf. Taine, à Sainte-Beuve, Aug. 14, 1865: “Comme Claude Bernard, il dépasse sa spécialité et c'est ches des spécialistes comme ceux-là que la malheureuse philosophie livée aux mains gantées et parfumées d'eau bénite va trouver des maris capables de lui faire encore des enfants.” cf. Epictet. iii. 21. 21. The passage is imitated by Lucian 3. 2. 287, 294, 298. For the shame that has befallen philosophy Cf. Euthydem. 304 ff., Epist. vii. 328 E, Isoc.Busiris 48, Plutarch 1091 E, Boethius, Cons. i. 3. There is no probability that this is aimed at Isocrates, who certainly had not deserted the mechanical arts for what he called philosophy. Rohde Kleine Schriften, i. 319, thinks Antisthenes is meant. But Plato as usual is generalizing. See What Plato Said, p. 593 on Soph. 242 C.
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6 translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969.
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