Lysis

Name: Lysis
Author: Plato

Ancient Greek with an independent English translation.

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LysisLysis · 212d–213c

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Lysis · 212d–213c

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Ancient Greek

p. 28

οὓς ἂν οἱ ἵπποι μὴ ἀντιφιλῶσιν, οὐδὲ φιλόρτυγες, οὐδ’ αὖ φιλόκυνές γε καὶ φίλοινοι καὶ φιλογυμνασταὶ καὶ φιλόσοφοι, ἂν μὴ ἡ σοφία αὐτοὺς ἀντιφιλῇ. ἢ φιλοῦσι μὲν ταῦτα 212e ἕκαστοι, οὐ μέντοι φίλα ὄντα, ἀλλὰ ψεύδεθ’ ὁ ποιητής, ὃς ἔφη—

ὄλβιος, ᾧ παῖδές τε φίλοι καὶ μώνυχες ἵπποι καὶ κύνες ἀγρευταὶ καὶ ξένος ἀλλοδαπός;

—Οὐκ ἔμοιγε δοκεῖ, ἦ δ’ ὅς.—Ἀλλ’ ἀληθῆ δοκεῖ λέγειν σοι; —Ναί.—Τὸ φιλούμενον ἄρα τῷ φιλοῦντι φίλον ἐστίν, ὡς ἔοικεν, ὦ Μενέξενε, ἐάντε φιλῇ ἐάντε καὶ μισῇ· οἷον καὶ τὰ νεωστὶ γεγονότα παιδία, τὰ μὲν οὐδέπω φιλοῦντα, τὰ 213a δὲ καὶ μισοῦντα, ὅταν κολάζηται ὑπὸ τῆς μητρὸς ἢ ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός, ὅμως καὶ μισοῦντα ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ χρόνῳ πάντων μάλιστά ἐστι τοῖς γονεῦσι φίλτατα.—Ἔμοιγε δοκεῖ, ἔφη, οὕτως ἔχειν.—Οὐκ ἄρα ὁ φιλῶν φίλος ἐκ τούτου τοῦ λόγου, ἀλλ’ ὁ φιλούμενος.—Ἔοικεν.—Καὶ ὁ μισούμενος ἐχθρὸς ἄρα, ἀλλ’ οὐχ ὁ μισῶν.—Φαίνεται.—Πολλοὶ ἄρα ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν φιλοῦνται, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν φίλων μισοῦνται, καὶ τοῖς 213b μὲν ἐχθροῖς φίλοι εἰσίν, τοῖς δὲ φίλοις ἐχθροί, εἰ τὸ φιλούμενον φίλον ἐστὶν ἀλλὰ μὴ τὸ φιλοῦν. καίτοι πολλὴ ἀλογία, ὦ φίλε ἑταῖρε, μᾶλλον δὲ οἶμαι καὶ ἀδύνατον, τῷ τε φίλῳ ἐχθρὸν καὶ τῷ ἐχθρῷ φίλον εἶναι.—Ἀληθῆ, ἔφη, ἔοικας λέγειν, ὦ Σώκρατες.—Οὐκοῦν εἰ τοῦτ’ ἀδύνατον, τὸ φιλοῦν ἂν εἴη φίλον τοῦ φιλουμένου.—Φαίνεται.—Τὸ μισοῦν ἄρα πάλιν ἐχθρὸν τοῦ μισουμένου.—Ἀνάγκη.—Οὐκοῦν ταὐτὰ ἡμῖν συμβήσεται ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι ὁμολογεῖν, 213c ἅπερ ἐπὶ τῶν πρότερον, πολλάκις φίλον εἶναι μὴ φίλου, πολλάκις δὲ καὶ ἐχθροῦ, ὅταν ἢ μὴ φιλοῦν τις φιλῇ ἢ καὶ μισοῦν φιλῇ· πολλάκις δ’ ἐχθρὸν εἶναι μὴ ἐχθροῦ ἢ καὶ φίλου, ὅταν ἢ ⟨μὴ⟩ μισοῦν τις μισῇ ἢ καὶ φιλοῦν μισῇ.— Κινδυνεύει, ἔφη.—Τί οὖν δὴ χρησώμεθα, ἦν δ’ ἐγώ, εἰ μήτε

Lysis

p. 29

whom the horses do not love back, nor friends of quails, nor again friends of dogs, and friends of wine, and friends of exercise, and friends of wisdom, unless wisdom loves them back.¹ Or do they love these things, 212e each of them, though these are not friends, but is the poet lying who said,

Fortunate he to whom children are friends, and single-hoofed horses, and dogs for the hunt, and a guest from abroad?”²

— “It doesn’t seem so to me,” he said. — “But you think he speaks the truth?” — “Yes.” — “Then what is loved is a friend to the one who loves it, it seems, Menexenus, whether it loves or even hates: as with newborn children, some of whom do not yet love, 213a and some of whom even hate, when they are punished by their mother or their father; and yet even while they hate they are at that time, more than anything, the greatest friends to their parents.”³ — “It seems so to me,” he said. — “Then on this argument it is not the one who loves who is a friend, but the one who is loved.” — “It seems so.” — “And the one who is hated is an enemy, then, not the one who hates.”⁴ — “Apparently.” — “Then many are loved by their enemies and hated by their friends, and 213b are friends to their enemies and enemies to their friends, if what is loved is a friend and not what loves. And yet it is a great want of sense, my friend and companion, or rather I think even an impossibility, to be an enemy to one’s friend and a friend to one’s enemy.” — “What you say seems true, Socrates,” he said. — “Then if this is impossible, what loves would be a friend of what is loved.” — “Apparently.” — “And what hates, in turn, an enemy of what is hated.” — “Necessarily.” — “Then it will turn out that we must agree to the same things 213c as in the earlier case: that often one is a friend of what is not a friend, and often even of an enemy, when one loves what does not love, or even loves what hates; and often one is an enemy of what is not an enemy, or even of a friend, when one hates what does not hate, or even hates what loves.”⁵ — “It looks like it,” he said. — “What then shall we do,” I said, “if neither

About This Reading Edition

The complete Lysis, 203a–223b: Socrates questions Lysis and Menexenus about friendship, love, desire, and what is akin, as Hippothales listens. Burnet’s Greek faces a new Diotimos Editions English translation, with an introduction, key words, outline, glossary, critical apparatus, and linked translator notes.

Historical Text and Translation

Greek: Plato, Lysis, in John Burnet, Platonis Opera, volume III (Oxford, 1903; second impression, corrected, January 1909, printed by Horace Hart). The words were taken from the Perseus Digital Library transcription and checked against photographs of this impression 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.