[498a]
said I, “those
who do take it up are youths, just out of boyhood,1 who in the interval2 before they engage in business and
money-making approach the most difficult part of it, and then drop
it—and these are regarded forsooth as the best exemplars of
philosophy. By the most difficult part I mean discussion. In later life they
think they have done much if, when invited, they deign to listen3 to the philosophic
discussions of others. That sort of thing they think should be by-work. And
towards old age,4 with few exceptions, their light is
quenched more completely
1 Cf. 386 A, 395 C, 413 C, 485 D, 519 A, Demosth. xxi. 154, Xen.Ages. 10.4, Aristot.Eth. Nic. 1103 b 24, 1104 b 11, Isoc. xv. 289.
2 Cf. 450 C.
3 Cf. 475 D, Isoc. xii. 270ἀλλ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ἄλλου δεικνύοντος καὶ πονήσαντος ἠθέλησεν ἀκροατὴς γενέσθαι“would not even be willing to listen to one worked out and submitted by another” (tr. Norlin in L.C.L.).
4 Cf. Antiphon's devotion to horsemanship in the Parmenides, 126 C. For πρὸς τὸ γῆρας cf. 552 D, Laws 653 A.
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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