From the book
Lysis
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordHepomai means follow; keep up with an explanation.
- In LysisThe ordinary sense appears when Hippothales invites Socrates to come along (204a) and when Lysis follows Menexenus to the group (207b).
- Reading contextFollowing an argument is presented as a shared task, and the exchange gives a practical reason for the medical analogy.
- A place to readThe Greek example means “I am not quite following, he said.”
- English renderings
- Follow; keep up with an explanation
Meaning
Follow; keep up with an explanation.
Grammatical category: verb.
Use in the book
The ordinary sense appears when Hippothales invites Socrates to come along (204a) and when Lysis follows Menexenus to the group (207b). The later use transfers following from bodily movement to comprehension.
Menexenus uses the first-person ἕπομαι to say that he is not quite following the compressed question about the thing for whose sake a friend is a friend. The immediate issue is comprehension, not unwillingness to agree.
Socrates responds with the concrete example of the sick person and the doctor, adding that the example may help him too understand his own words. Following an argument is presented as a shared task, and the exchange gives a practical reason for the medical analogy.