Diotimos Library · Plato Collection · Bilingual Edition

Plato

Theages

Name: Theages
Author: Plato

Ancient Greek with an independent English translation.

Explore the Lexicon

TheagesTheages · 125d–126b

Swipe or use the arrow keys.

Ancient Greek Page · Branch 12 of 24

Theages · 125d–126b

Book Mode

Ancient Greek

p. 18

ΣΩ. Ἀλλὰ βούλει ἐγώ σοι εἴπω;

ΘΕ. Εἰ σὺ βούλει.

ΣΩ. Ταῦτ’ ἐστὶν ἅπερ ἔφη Ἀνακρέων τὴν Καλλικρίτην ἐπίστασθαι· ἢ οὐκ οἶσθα τὸ ᾆσμα;

ΘΕ. Ἔγωγε.

ΣΩ. Τί οὖν; τοιαύτης τινὸς καὶ σὺ συνουσίας ἐπιθυμεῖς 125e ἀνδρὸς ὅστις τυγχάνει ὁμότεχνος ὢν Καλλικρίτῃ τῇ Κυάνης καὶ “ἐπίσταται τυραννικά,” ὥσπερ ἐκείνην ἔφη ὁ ποιητής, ἵνα καὶ σὺ ἡμῖν τύραννος γένῃ καὶ τῇ πόλει;

ΘΕ. Πάλαι, ὦ Σώκρατες, σκώπτεις καὶ παίζεις πρός με.

ΣΩ. Τί δέ; οὐ ταύτης φῂς τῆς σοφίας ἐπιθυμεῖν ᾗ πάντων ἂν τῶν πολιτῶν ἄρχοις; τοῦτο δὲ ποιῶν ἄλλο τι ἢ τύραννος ἂν εἴης;

ΘΕ. Εὐξαίμην μὲν ἂν οἶμαι ἔγωγε τύραννος γενέσθαι, 126a μάλιστα μὲν πάντων ἀνθρώπων, εἰ δὲ μή, ὡς πλείστων· καὶ σύ γ’ ἂν οἶμαι καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι πάντες ἄνθρωποι—ἔτι δέ γε ἴσως μᾶλλον θεὸς γενέσθαι—ἀλλ’ οὐ τούτου ἔλεγον ἐπιθυμεῖν.

ΣΩ. Ἀλλὰ τί δή ἐστί ποτε οὗ ἐπιθυμεῖς; οὐ τῶν πολιτῶν φῂς ἄρχειν ἐπιθυμεῖν;

ΘΕ. Οὐ βίᾳ γε οὐδ’ ὥσπερ οἱ τύραννοι ἀλλ’ ἑκόντων, ὥσπερ καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι οἱ ἐν τῇ πόλει ἐλλόγιμοι ἄνδρες.

ΣΩ. Ἆρά γε λέγεις ὥσπερ Θεμιστοκλῆς καὶ Περικλῆς καὶ Κίμων καὶ ὅσοι τὰ πολιτικὰ δεινοὶ γεγόνασιν;

ΘΕ. Νὴ Δία τούτους λέγω.

ΣΩ. Τί οὖν εἰ τὰ ἱππικὰ ἐτύγχανες ἐπιθυμῶν σοφὸς 126b γενέσθαι; παρὰ τίνας ἂν ἀφικόμενος ᾠήθης δεινὸς ἔσεσθαι ἱππεύς; ἦ παρ’ ἄλλους τινὰς ἢ τοὺς ἱππικούς;

ΘΕ. Μὰ Δία οὐκ ἔγωγε.

Theages

p. 19

Soc. Well, would you like me to tell you?

Theag. If you like.

Soc. These are just the things that Anacreon said Callicrite knew. Or do you not know the song?¹

Theag. I do.

Soc. Well then? Do you too desire being with some such 125e man as is in fact a fellow craftsman of Callicrite daughter of Cyane, and “knows tyrannical things”, as the poet said of her, so that you too may become a tyrant for us and for the city?

Theag. You have long been mocking me, Socrates, and joking with me.

Soc. Well? Do you not say that you desire the wisdom by which you would rule all the citizens? And doing this, would you be anything other than a tyrant?

Theag. I would pray, I think, to become a tyrant, 126a over all men best of all, and if not, over as many as possible; and so, I think, would you and all other men—and still more, perhaps, to become a god—but this is not what I said I desired.²

Soc. Then what in the world is it that you desire? Do you not say you desire to rule the citizens?

Theag. Not by force, at least, nor as the tyrants do, but over those who are willing, as the other men of repute in the city do.

Soc. Do you mean like Themistocles and Pericles and Cimon, and all who have become clever at the affairs of the city?³

Theag. By Zeus, those are the ones I mean.

Soc. What, then, if you were in fact desiring 126b to become wise in horsemanship? By going to whom would you have thought you would become a clever horseman? Would it be to any others than those skilled in horsemanship?

Theag. Not I, by Zeus.

1.Anacreon of Teos, the lyric poet of the sixth century BC, lived at the courts of Polycrates of Samos and of Hipparchus at Athens; the Hipparchus says that Hipparchus brought him to the city (228c). The song is known only from this passage. Burnet prints the spelling Callicrite from a later manuscript; B, T and W have Callicrete.

2.The wish can be set beside the Alcibiades I, where Socrates imagines a god offering Alcibiades power in Europe but forbidding him Asia, and says Alcibiades would not care to live on those terms (105a–c), and the Alcibiades II, where Socrates imagines the god offering Alcibiades tyranny (141a–b).

3.Themistocles, who built the Athenian fleet and led it against the Persians at Salamis in 480 BC; Pericles, who led Athens for some thirty years until his death in 429; Cimon, son of Miltiades, general and statesman between them. In the Gorgias Callicles offers the same three, with Miltiades, as good men (503c), and Socrates finds that none of them made the citizens better (515c–517a).

About This Reading Edition

Demodocus asks Socrates how his son Theages can become wise. Their conversation turns from political ambition and the sophists to Socrates’ divine sign and the uncertain benefits of keeping his company. This complete edition presents the dialogue, 121a–131a, across seventeen Greek–English page pairs, with an introduction, Key Words of the Dialogue, an outline, glossary, critical apparatus, and thirty-nine translator’s notes. The dialogue is transmitted among Plato’s works; its authorship remains disputed.

Historical Text and Translation

The Greek follows John Burnet’s Platonis Opera, volume III (Oxford, 1903; second impression, corrected, 1909), printed at Oxford by Horace Hart. The supplied edition checks the Perseus Digital Library transcription against the photographed pages and preserves Burnet’s speaker names, verse quotations, editorial signs, and critical apparatus. The companion PDF retains the printed lineation and complete page layout.

About Diotimos Editions

Diotimos Editions prepared this independent English translation directly from the Greek. Each English dialogue page translates the Greek page opposite it, with Stephanus references in the margin and all thirty-nine translator’s notes attached to their passages. The introduction and Key Words of the Dialogue precede the text; the Outline, Editorial Note, Glossary of Key Terms, and Note on this Edition follow it.

Rights

The ancient Greek work and Burnet’s printed edition are in the public domain. The Perseus digital Greek transcription and its modifications are attributed to the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, and reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. The independent English translation and Diotimos editorial matter are © 2026 Diotimos Editions.