Corruption

Use in the book

Demodocus' first account describes a desire that is not ignoble but is unsafe (121c–d2). By 127b–c that general anxiety has a concrete object: an unsuitable associate. Socrates seems to him the welcome solution because the boy wants Socrates and the father trusts him. Theages says the fear can end if his father persuades Socrates to accept his company. Their exchange treats acceptance as the last remaining obstacle.

Socrates' answer changes that picture. He first questions the assumption that he would be the best person to make the boy a good citizen (127d–e), then describes an association governed by the daimonic power (128d–130e234). Even permitted contact may yield no benefit; even rapid improvement may later disappear. Avoiding an obviously corrupting teacher and securing a preferred associate are therefore insufficient conditions for durable improvement.

Nothing here alleges that a named sophist has corrupted Theages. Prodicus, Gorgias and Polus are mentioned as people who profess to educate; the father's feared corrupter remains indefinite. Nor does the passage conduct the prosecution of Socrates known from other works. The irony recognizable to a reader of the Apology is contextual: in this dialogue the father actively seeks Socrates' company as protection against harm. That dramatic reversal should not be turned into a historical verdict about every Socratic associate.

Places to read

1. 127cμή τινι ἄλλῳ ἐντύχῃ οἵῳ τοῦτον διαφθεῖραι — The father fears an encounter with someone capable of corrupting the boy
2. 127cτὴν ἐμὴν συνουσίαν προσδέξασθαι — Theages makes acceptance of his company the immediate request
3. 127dπρὸς τὸ πολίτην ἀγαθὸν γενέσθαι — Socrates restates the desired outcome positively, as becoming a good citizen

Translation in this edition

“Corrupt” preserves the active infinitive printed by Burnet. The apparatus records W's passive διαφθαρῆναι as an alternative. The supplied English follows the printed active construction and thus presents the encountered person as the possible agent of harm.

Accept — προσδέχεσθαι (prosdechesthai)

προσδέχεσθαι (prosdechesthai)

Accept. Receive Theages' company, the action he wants his father to persuade Socrates to take. Attested: προσδέξασθαι (127c). Corruption and choosing an associate.

Be corrupted — διαφθείρειν (diaphtheirein)

διαφθείρειν (diaphtheirein)

Be corrupted. The possible harm to the son from unsuitable association, not an already established injury. Attested: διαφθαρῇ (122a). Corruption and choosing an associate.

Corrupt — διαφθείρειν (diaphtheirein)

διαφθείρειν (diaphtheirein)

Corrupt. The harm Demodocus fears an unsuitable associate might do to his son; no particular sophist is accused here. Attested: διαφθεῖραι (127c). Corruption and choosing an associate.

Coming to be with — συγγίγνεσθαι (syngignesthai)

συγγίγνεσθαι (syngignesthai)

Coming to be with. The feared unsupervised association with another person. Attested: συγγενόμενός (122a). Corruption and choosing an associate.

Encounter — ἐντυγχάνειν (entynchanein)

ἐντυγχάνειν (entynchanein)

Encounter. Meet with someone, in the father's warning about a potentially corrupting associate. Attested: ἐντύχῃ (127c). Corruption and choosing an associate.

Use in the book

The most damaging corruption is not always immediately visible wickedness. Mistaken riches produce rivalry, invented wants, and violence by reorganizing desire around inadequate objects. The child learns that distorted scale through education and example. III.8 gives striking weight to outward bondage while explicitly retaining the derivation of corruption from Adam. Elsewhere corruption is rust upon a principle that remains pure gold when the rust is removed. The power to please others can become a snare without ceasing to have been well designed. Traherne's restorative approach accordingly asks what good capacity has been misdirected. Recovery requires more than excusing vice as natural or condemning the entire nature that has become vulnerable to it.

Places to read

1. I.33Corrupt valuations generate contentious and violent social relations.
2. III.8Outward custom corrupts teachable nature, within a history still traced to Adam.
3. IV.45Corruption is figured as rust upon the good natural principle of giving delight.
4. IV.51Goodness becomes a snare through error, though in innocence it channels joy.

In this edition

“Corruption” here generally means moral and perceptual disorder rather than bodily decomposition. Its relation to nature is qualified, not simply either total identity or complete separation.