From the book
Lysis
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordDeinos means dreadful, formidable, impressively capable; the sense changes with context.
- In LysisCtesippus calls Hippothales’ prose dreadful and his singing more dreadful still.
- Reading contextThe local object of admiration or alarm determines the evaluative force.
- A place to readThe Greek example means “for the fellow is formidable.”
- English renderings
- Dreadful, formidable, impressively capable; the sense changes with context
Meaning
Dreadful, formidable, impressively capable; the sense changes with context.
Grammatical category: adjective.
Use in the book
Ctesippus calls Hippothales’ prose dreadful and his singing more dreadful still. The same adjective marks Socrates’ mock alarm at a free boy ruled by a slave. At 211c it describes Menexenus as formidable in argument, a pupil of Ctesippus.
The range should not be forced into one English gloss. “Terrible” suits the tedious performance, while “formidable” better preserves the mixture of ability and apprehension in the description of Menexenus. The local object of admiration or alarm determines the evaluative force.