[527d]
“Shall we
set down astronomy as a third, or do you dissent?” “I
certainly agree,” he said; “for quickness of perception
about the seasons and the courses of the months and the years is
serviceable,1
not only to agriculture and navigation, but still more to the military
art.” “I am amused,2” said I, “at your apparent fear lest the
multitude3 may suppose you to be recommending useless studies.4 It is indeed no trifling task, but very difficult to realize
that there is in every soul an organ or instrument of knowledge that is
purified5 and kindled afresh
1 Xen.Mem. iv. 7. 3 ff. attributes to Socrates a similar utilitarian view of science.
2 For ἡδὺς εἶ cf. 337 D, Euthydem. 300 A, Gorg. 491 Eἥδιστε, Rep. 348 Cγλυκὺς εἶ, Hipp. Maj. 288 B.
3 Cf. on 499 D-E, p. 66, note a.
4 Again Plato anticipates much modern controversy.
5 Cf. Xen.Symp. 1. 4ἐκκεκαθαρμένοις τὰς ψυχάς, and Phaedo 67 B-C.
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6 translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
Purchase a copy of this text (not necessarily the same edition) from Amazon.com
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.