[529c]
even though he study floating on his
back1 on sea or
land.”“A fair
retort,2” he said; “your rebuke is
deserved. But how, then, did you mean that astronomy ought to be taught contrary
to the present fashion if it is to be learned in a way to conduce to our
purpose?” “Thus,” said I, “these sparks
that paint the sky,3 since they are decorations on a visible
surface, we must regard, to be sure, as the fairest and
1 Cf. Phaedr. 264 A, and Adam in Class. Rev. xiii. p. 11.
2 Or rather, “serves me right,” or, in the American language, “I’ve got what's coming to me.” The expression is colloquial. Cf. Epist. iii. 319 E, Antiphon cxxiv. 45. But δίκην ἔχει in 520 B = “it is just.”
3 Cf. Tim. 40 Aκόσμον ἀληθινὸν αὐτῷ πεποικιλμένον, Eurip.Hel. 1096ἀστέρων ποικίλματα, Critias, Sisyphus,Diels ii.3 p. 321, lines 33-34τό τ᾽ ἀστερωπὸν οὐρανοῦ δέμας χρόνου καλὸν ποίκιλμα τέκτονος σοφοῦ. Cf. also Gorg. 508 A, Lucretius v. 1205 “stellis micantibus aethera fixum,” ii. 1031 ff., Aeneid iv. 482 “stellis ardentibus aptum,” vi. 797, xi. 202, Ennius, Ann. 372. The word ποικίλματα may further suggest here the complication of the movements in the heavens
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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