Doctor and trainer as judges of measure · Lexicon

From the book

The Lovers

Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordIatros means doctor, a practitioner concerned with bodily illness and health.
In The LoversAt 134e Socrates asks whom they would properly consult to determine suitable labors and food for the body.
In this editionThe supplied translation keeps “doctor” and “trainer” as plain role names and reports the early answer in Socrates’ first-person plural: “We agreed, the three of us.”
A place to readὅτι ἰατρὸν ἢ παιδοτρίβην — All three identify doctor or trainer as an appropriate bodily adviser.

Meaning

Iatros means doctor, a practitioner concerned with bodily illness and health. Paidotribēs means a trainer, especially a teacher of bodily exercise. The compound’s association with training boys helps explain the traditional role, but the passage uses the trainer as an authority on bodily exertion and food without specifying the age of every client. The English “trainer” should not be reduced to a casual companion who enjoys exercise.

The athlete’s experience in gymnastics and the paidotribēs named as an adviser are related but not expressly identified. The dialogue does not say the unnamed lover is himself a professional trainer or doctor. Knowing one relevant fact differs from possessing the full expertise needed to prescribe measure.

Use in the book

At 134e Socrates asks whom they would properly consult to determine suitable labors and food for the body. All three agree on doctor or trainer. The agreement demonstrates that they can recognize the outline of relevant expertise in a familiar domain. It does not claim the two professions are identical in every respect. The question is deliberately framed broadly enough that either may be an appropriate answer.

The farmer provides a second domain, making the ensuing failure about the soul more conspicuous. They do not lack names for experts in general; they lack an agreed answer about educational measure. The analogy points toward the need for an informed judge, while leaving who that judge is unresolved.

The doctor’s later return at 136c–d2 changes the test. Now an illness makes a choice urgent: would one bring in the generalist philosopher or the doctor to acquire health? The cultured lover initially wants both, but grants priority to the doctor. The figure who first helped establish that there is expertise in measuring bodily inputs now exposes the limits of non-specialist usefulness. The two examples are related but do distinct argumentative jobs.

At 138d the doctor is again a point of comparison for what the philosopher should be able to follow and contribute. These returns give the early example continuity without making bodily medicine the final object of philosophy. The concluding demand centers on judgment in one’s own household and community.

Places to read

134eὅτι ἰατρὸν ἢ παιδοτρίβην — All three identify doctor or trainer as an appropriate bodily adviser.
136dτὸν ἰατρὸν καὶ μᾶλλον καὶ πρότερον — In the later illness case the doctor is preferred and chosen first.

Translation in this edition

The supplied translation keeps “doctor” and “trainer” as plain role names and reports the early answer in Socrates’ first-person plural: “We agreed, the three of us.” That detail prevents the exchange from appearing to be merely another reluctant concession by the cultured lover. The edition’s introduction also identifies doctor and pilot as recurring examples of specialist preference across Socratic dialogues; this is contextual framing, not a claim that this passage names another work.