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Plato

Epinomis

Name: Epinomis
Author: Plato

Ancient Greek with an independent English translation.

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EpinomisEpinomis · 979c–980b

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 12 of 32

Epinomis · 979c–980b

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Ancient Greek

p. 18

ἀγαθὴν δεῖ, συγχωρεῖ πᾶς παντί, τὸ δ’ ὅντινα τρόπον ἀγαθήν, ὅτι μὲν αὖ δικαίαν καὶ σώφρονα καὶ ἀνδρείαν, καὶ ταῦτα, ὅτι δὲ σοφήν, φησὶ μὲν πᾶς δεῖν, ἥντινα δὲ σοφίαν, ὡς ἄρτι 979d διεληλύθαμεν, οὐδεὶς οὐδενὶ τὸ παράπαν ἔτι συνομολογεῖ τῶν πολλῶν. νῦν οὖν δὴ παρὰ πάσας τὰς πρόσθεν σοφίας οὐ φαύλην τινὰ ἀνευρίσκομεν εἰς αὐτά γε ταῦτα, τὸ δοκεῖν σοφὸν εἶναι τόν γε μεμαθηκότα ἅπερ καὶ διεληλύθαμεν· εἰ δ’ ἔστιν σοφὸς ὁ ταῦτ’ ἐπιστήμων καὶ ἀγαθός, τούτου δὴ πέρι λόγον δεῖ λαβεῖν.

ΚΛ. Ὦ ξένε, ὡς εἰκότως εἶπες ὅτι περὶ μεγάλων μεγάλα ἐπιχειρεῖς φράζειν.

979eΑΘ. Οὐ γὰρ σμικρά, ὦ Κλεινία· τὸ δὲ χαλεπώτερον, ὅτι παντάπασι καὶ πάντως ἀληθῆ.

ΚΛ. Σφόδρα γε, ὦ ξένε· ἀλλ’ ὅμως μὴ ἀποκάμῃς λέγων ὃ φῄς.

ΑΘ. Ναί, μηδὲ σφὼ τοίνυν ἀκούοντε.

ΚΛ. Ταῦτ’ ἔσται· καὶ ὑπὲρ ἀμφοῖν ἐγώ σοι φράζω.

980aΑΘ. Καλῶς. ἐξ ἀρχῆς δὴ ῥητέον ἀνάγκῃ πρῶτον, ὡς φαίνεται, μάλιστα μὲν ἄν, εἰ δυνάμεθα ἑνὶ λαβεῖν ὀνόματι, τίς ἐστιν ἣν οἰόμεθα σοφίαν εἶναι, τοῦτο δ’ εἰ σφόδρα ἀδυνατοῦμεν, τὸ δεύτερον, τίνες εἰσίν ποτε καὶ ὁπόσαι τινές, ἅς τις λαβὼν σοφὸς ἂν εἴη κατὰ τὸν ἡμέτερον μῦθον.

ΚΛ. Λέγοις ἄν.

ΑΘ. Τὸ δὴ μετὰ τοῦτο ἀνεμέσητον τῷ νομοθέτῃ τὸ κάλλιον τῶν πρότερον εἰρημένων περὶ θεῶν καὶ ἄμεινον ἀπεικάζοντι λέγειν, οἷον παιδιᾷ καλῇ χρωμένῳ καὶ τιμῶντι 980b θεούς, ὕμνοις τε καὶ εὐδαιμονίᾳ γεραίροντι διάγειν τὸν αὑτοῦ βίον.

ΚΛ. Ἦ καλῶς, ὦ ξένε, λέγεις. εἰ γάρ σοι τοῦτο τέλος εἴη τῶν νόμων, θεοὺς προσπαίσαντι καθαρώτερόν δὲ δια-

Epinomis

p. 19

should be good, everyone grants everyone; but in what way good — that it should be just, again, and temperate and brave, this too; but that it should be wise, everyone says it should, but which wisdom, as 979d we have just gone through, no one of the many any longer agrees with anyone at all. Now, then, beside all the former kinds of wisdom, we are finding one that is not trivial, for these very things at least: that the one, at least, who has learned what we have gone through seems to be wise; but whether the one who has knowledge of these things is wise and good, about this we must get an account.

Clin. Stranger, how reasonably you said that you are attempting to declare great things about great things!

Ath. 979e For they are not small, Clinias; and what is harder, they are altogether and in every way true.

Clin. Very much so, stranger; but all the same, do not grow weary of saying what you say.

Ath. Yes; then do not you two grow weary of listening either.¹

Clin. It shall be so; and I declare this to you on behalf of us both.

Ath. 980a Good. We must, then, of necessity,² speak first from the beginning, as it appears: most of all, if we are able to take it in one name, what it is that we think wisdom is; but if we are quite unable to do this, in the second place, which they are, and how many,³ by taking up which one would be wise according to our story.⁴

Clin. Please speak.

Ath. What comes after this, then: it is no matter for resentment for the lawgiver to speak, likening the gods more finely and better than what was said of them before, as one who makes use of a fine play⁵ and honors 980b the gods, and, glorifying them with hymns and happiness, to pass his own life.

Clin. You speak well indeed, stranger. Would that this might be the goal of your laws: that you, having celebrated the gods in play,⁶ and having more purely

1.You two: the Greek is in the dual, for Clinias and the silent Megillus.

2.Of necessity: Burnet prints anankēi, Schneider’s dative; the manuscripts have anankē, “it is necessary”.

3.They: feminine plural, as of sophiai, “kinds of wisdom” (979d).

4.Our story: so the Athenian speaks in the Laws of “our present story-telling”, the city founded in words (6.752a), and calls his account of the teachers of letters a story (7.812a).

5.Play: paidia, the word used of the imitative arts at 975d. Burnet prints it from the margins of L and O; the text of all three manuscripts has paideia, “education”. The lawgiver’s “fine play” seems to be his honoring of the gods (interpretation).

6.Celebrated … in play: prospaizein, “play towards”, from the root of paidia, “play” (980a); LSJ takes it here as “sing in praise of”.

About This Reading Edition

The complete Epinomis, 973a–992e: the Athenian stranger, Clinias, and Megillus examine wisdom, number, the soul, and the ordered heavens. Burnet’s Greek faces a new Diotimos Editions English translation, with an introduction, key words, outline, glossary, critical apparatus, and linked translator notes. Transmitted under Plato’s name, the dialogue’s authorship is disputed; the supplied Introduction presents the question without deciding it.

Historical Text and Translation

Greek: Epinomis, transmitted under Plato’s name, with disputed authorship, in John Burnet, Platonis Opera, volume V, part II (Oxford, 1907; a later impression printed by John Johnson, issued 1936–1945). The words were taken from the Perseus Digital Library transcription and checked against the printed pages by the supplied edition; Burnet’s lineation and critical apparatus are retained. The digital Greek transcription and its modifications are attributed to the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, under CC BY-SA 4.0. English translation and editorial matter: Diotimos Editions, 2026.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

The ancient Greek work and Burnet’s printed edition are in the public domain. The Perseus digital Greek transcription and its modifications are reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. The new English translation and editorial matter are credited to Diotimos Editions, 2026; no open license is stated in the supplied edition.