Association and intercourse

Use in the book

Association is the dialogue’s continuous practical question. Demodocus fears an unsupervised encounter that may corrupt his son. Socrates first uses the noun for their present advisory conversation, then asks whose company will make Theages wise. The poetic proposition “wise are tyrants by being with the wise” makes association a supposed means to wisdom. Substituting farmers, cooks and wrestlers exposes the missing specification: wise in what? The Callicrite turn further unsettles the assumption that identifying an associate by a broad label has secured the desired education.

At 126c the proposed route is association with actual statesmen. Theages objects that their sons fail to show the expected benefit. At 127a he chooses Socrates, and father and son treat reciprocal willingness as the immediate obstacle. Demodocus wants Socrates to be with the boy; Theages wants his own association accepted. Socrates’ description of sophists at 128a retains the same vocabulary: they persuade youths to abandon civic companions and pay for being with them. The word therefore runs across private conversation, civic mentorship, commercial education and the proposed Socratic relation without identifying these as the same teaching method.

Theages’ observational argument at 128c then gives “coming to be with” Socrates a before-and-after structure. Socrates’ answer qualifies that structure: attendance is neither sufficient for improvement nor a guarantee that improvement will endure. Aristides later pursued association with cultivated people because he felt capable of holding his own among them; this is an effect of his former confidence, not another description of studying under Socrates. Finally, Theages proposes “being with one another” as the way to test the daimonic. The reciprocal expression makes a practical beginning possible while leaving its outcome open.

Places to read

1. 122aσυγγενόμενός τῳ — the father fears a potentially corrupting encounter without him
2. 122cτῆς συνουσίας — the current advisory conversation is itself an association
3. 122eἀνδρός τινος συνουσίαν — the search is for someone whose company will make the boy wise
4. 125a–d2συνουσίαν; συνουσίᾳ — association supplies the supposed route in the tyrant question and repeated verse
5. 125d–e2τοιαύτης … συνουσίας — the Callicrite comparison tests what kind of association is desired
6. 126cἄλλοις τισὶν συγγενόμενος — Socrates asks whether alternative companions could impart the statesmen’s competence
7. 127a–cσυνεῖναι; συνουσίᾳ; συγγενέσθαι; συνουσίαν — father and son choose association with Socrates
8. 127e–128aσυνουσίας; συνεῖναι — civic and fee-paying associations are contrasted
9. 128cσυνεῖναι; συνεγένοντο — Theages describes companionship and its apparent effects
10. 129e–130aσυνουσίας; συνεῖναι; συνόντες; τῆς συνουσίας — Socrates separates access from benefit and lasting progress
11. 130bσυγγενέσθαι — Aristides insults Thucydides’ condition before meeting Socrates
12. 130cτὰς συνουσίας — Aristides formerly sought cultivated company
13. 130d–eσυνείην; ἡ ἡμετέρα συνουσία — his remembered experience leads into Socrates’ general warning
14. 131aσυνόντας ἀλλήλοις; συνεσόμεθα — trial together, or eventual recourse to another associate

Translation in this edition

“Being with”, “be with” and “come to be with” intentionally preserve the family resemblance while distinguishing the third verb’s event of coming together. At 122e idiomatic English requires “some man to be with” for the noun construction. The continuity is interpretatively useful: changing every late occurrence into “tuition” would decide precisely what the dialogue leaves unsettled.

Be with — συνεῖναι

Be with. To be in someone’s company; Aristides says his progress occurred whenever he was with Socrates. Attested: συνείην (130d). Association, being with, and coming together.

Being with; association — συνουσία

Being with; association. Company or conversation; this early occurrence denotes the present consultation, not a formal school or tuition contract. Attested: συνουσίας (122c). Association, being with, and coming together.

Association as a means — συνουσία

Association as a means. Dative of the noun in the verse’s claim that tyrants become wise through company with the wise. Attested: συνουσίᾳ (125b). Association, being with, and coming together.

Companionships — συνουσία

Companionships. Associations whose outcomes the daimonic power governs; the word alone does not imply successful instruction. Attested: συνουσίας (129e). Association, being with, and coming together.

Come to be with — συγγίγνεσθαι (syngignesthai)

συγγίγνεσθαι (syngignesthai)

Come to be with. To enter into company or encounter someone; Theages uses it for the beginning of the companions’ relation to Socrates. Attested: συνεγένοντο (128c). Association, being with, and coming together.

One another — ἀλλήλων

One another. Reciprocal pronoun, conventionally cited in the genitive plural; the trial involves Theages and Socrates being with each other. Attested: ἀλλήλοις (131a). Association, being with, and coming together.

Use in the book

Association becomes the explanatory bridge between divine authority and human lawgiving. Socrates takes Minos' relation to Zeus to be association “in words,” and then gives that association an educational purpose. The distinction is essential: the interpretation does not rest merely on Minos being near a god. It involves speech, repeated attendance, learning and demonstration of previous learning (319c–e).

The sequence of tenses and purposes makes the education sustained. Minos used to attend; on a visit he would learn some things and show others that he had learned in the previous period. The future participles μαθησόμενος and ἀποδειξόμενος describe purposes of going, and the pluperfect ἐμεμαθήκει locates earlier learning before the later visit. Displaying acquired learning is not here identical with the companion's “proof” from variable customs at 315d, even though the words belong to the same show-or-demonstrate family. The local object is what Minos has learned.

At 320b Socrates states the account in its most compressed form: the association was through words, for education, toward virtue. These phrases give medium, educational purpose and ethical direction. The resulting laws are said to make Crete happy, with Sparta sharing the benefit after adopting them. This is Socrates' claim about the efficacy of the laws, not a narrated survey of Cretan and Spartan welfare.

Education is then transmitted through a second relationship. Rhadamanthys has been educated by Minos, but only for a defined service within the kingly craft. Teaching is therefore both a source of qualification and a relation whose scope must be specified. The sequence Zeus–Minos–Rhadamanthys does not imply that every pupil receives all the teacher's competence.

The final question checks the explanatory sufficiency of this account. Earlier education vocabulary certainly prepares a possible direction of answer: the soul may be improved through appropriate instruction and formation. But the interlocutors do not actually identify what the good lawgiver distributes to it. “Education” as a general description must not be inserted as a completed answer that the dialogue deliberately does not give (321d).

Places to read

1. 319cσυγγίγνεσθαι ἐνάτῳ ἔτει τῷ Διὶ ἐν λόγοις — Association is expressly qualified as taking place in words
2. 319cφοιτᾶν παιδευθησόμενον — Recurrent attendance has the purpose of receiving education
3. 319eτὰ μὲν μαθησόμενος, τὰ δὲ ἀποδειξόμενος — Learning and displaying previous learning are differentiated
4. 319eἐμεμαθήκει παρὰ τοῦ Διός — The earlier learning has Zeus as its source
5. 320bδιὰ λόγων ἐπὶ παιδείᾳ εἰς ἀρετήν — Medium, educational purpose and ethical direction are all specified
6. 320cἐπεπαίδευτο μέντοι οὐχ ὅλην τὴν βασιλικὴν τέχνην — Rhadamanthys' education has a limited scope

Translation in this edition

“Being with,” “come to be with,” and “one who is with” preserve the family rather than assigning every member the generic label “education.” The separately retained educational words show how Socrates interprets the association. “To show” translates the later purpose at the cave without introducing an unattested formal examination system.

Being with — συνουσία (synousia)

συνουσία (synousia)

Being with. Association or being together, here expressly through words, for education toward virtue; the general word does not itself mean a drinking party. Attested: συνουσία (320b). Association, learning, and education over time.

Come to be with — συγγίγνεσθαι (syngignesthai)

συγγίγνεσθαι (syngignesthai)

Come to be with. To associate or come together, specified here as a recurring relation with Zeus in words. Attested: συγγίγνεσθαι (319c). Association, learning, and education over time.

Education — παιδεία (paideia)

παιδεία (paideia)

Education. Education or training, the purpose assigned to Minos' verbal association with Zeus; virtue supplies its stated direction. Attested: παιδείᾳ (320b). Association, learning, and education over time.

Go repeatedly — φοιτᾶν (phoitan)

φοιτᾶν (phoitan)

Go repeatedly. To attend or frequent a place; Minos' visits have an educational purpose rather than being a single accidental encounter. Attested: φοιτᾶν (319c). Association, learning, and education over time.

Had been educated — παιδεύειν (paideuein)

παιδεύειν (paideuein)

Had been educated. To educate; the passive pluperfect says Rhadamanthys had received education from Minos, later limited to judicial service. Attested: ἐπεπαίδευτο (320b). Association, learning, and education over time.

To learn — μανθάνειν (manthanein)

μανθάνειν (manthanein)

To learn. To acquire learning; the future participle gives one purpose of Minos' visit, alongside showing what he had previously learned. Attested: μαθησόμενος (319e). Association, learning, and education over time.

One who is with — συνουσιαστής (synousiastēs)

συνουσιαστής (synousiastēs)

One who is with. A person who associates with another; Socrates uses it to explain Minos' relationship to Zeus. Attested: συνουσιαστὴν (319e). Association, learning, and education over time.

Words — λόγος (logos)

λόγος (logos)

Words. Speech or conversation, which Socrates uses to gloss confidences and to specify the educational medium of Minos' association with Zeus. Attested: λόγοι (319e). Association, learning, and education over time.

To show — ἀποδείκνυσθαι (apodeiknysthai)

ἀποδείκνυσθαι (apodeiknysthai)

To show. To display or demonstrate, here what Minos had learned before; the text does not specify a formal examination procedure. Attested: ἀποδειξόμενος (319e). Association, learning, and education over time.

In words and as a sophist (contextual phrase)

319c: ἐν λόγοις; ὡς ὑπὸ σοφιστοῦ ὄντος τοῦ Διός. The first extract locates Minos' association in discourse; the second presents Zeus under the description of a sophist who educates. They are two parts of Socrates' explanation of Homer's line, not additional words in that line. The explanatory expansion is precisely what the reader must distinguish from the evidence it interprets. See Association and education.

Learning some things and showing others (contextual phrase)

319e: τὰ μὲν μαθησόμενος, τὰ δὲ ἀποδειξόμενος. The paired future participles express purposes of Minos' visits: to learn some things and demonstrate others already learned in the previous interval. The relation is not mere attendance, and the second half should not disappear into a generalized “education.” Socrates imagines both acquisition and accountable display of learning. See Association and education.

Use in the book

The noun names the conversational gathering that Socrates and the others break up after yielding to the boys’ tutors. The local sense is ordinary social presence together.

It should not be given a sexual meaning in this sentence. The assembly ends for practical reasons while the philosophical question remains unresolved, making the dissolution of the συνουσία different from a resolution of the argument.

Places to read

1. 223bδιελύσαμεν τὴν συνουσίαν — We broke up the gathering.

Use in the book

The Phaedo describes the soul’s constant association with the body as making bodily character ingrained in it. Repeated companionship and practice explain the acquired disposition. The passage concerns habitual intimacy between soul and body, rather than an act of sexual intercourse.

Places to read

1. I.49.57.5Continual bodily association makes a bodily disposition grow into the soul.

Translation in this edition

“Association” is clearest; if “intercourse” is retained, explain its broader sense of sustained contact.