Irony and the two answers · Lexicon

From the book

The Lovers

Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordEirōnikōs means ironically, in a manner that says less than or something other than what is meant.
In The LoversSocrates asks whether love of exercise, like philosophy, is fine and good.
In this editionThe edition renders the phrase “very ironically” and explains the underlying noun in its note.
A place to readὉ δὲ καὶ μάλα εἰρωνικῶς εἶπε δύο — The narrator explicitly characterizes the cultured lover’s double response as ironic.

Meaning

Eirōnikōs means ironically, in a manner that says less than or something other than what is meant. Eirōneia is the corresponding noun, irony or dissembling. The noun explains the word-family but is not the form printed in this passage. The narrator expressly applies the adverb to the cultured lover, so “Socratic irony” cannot be substituted automatically for every use of the term in a Socratic dialogue.

This local irony is unusually explicit: the speaker gives two answers to one question, each assigned to a different listener. The discrepancy is announced rather than concealed from the audience. That makes it both an act of mockery and a declaration of how personal rivalry interferes with a common argument.

Use in the book

Socrates asks whether love of exercise, like philosophy, is fine and good. The cultured lover says that to his rival his answer is “neither,” but to Socrates he agrees it is both fine and good, adding that he thinks rightly. He refuses the athlete credit in the same breath with which he supplies the concession Socrates needs. His ironic manner protects the appearance of antagonism while allowing the argument to proceed.

The scene could be read as playful rather than deeply dishonest: everyone hears both answers, so no one is necessarily deceived about his belief. Yet the joke still reveals that an answer may be shaped by whom one wants to defeat rather than what one judges true. The later promise not to contend against his own opinion with Socrates repeats the distinction.

Socrates does not stop to define or condemn irony. He takes the concession addressed to him and tests the analogy between much labor and much learning. Thus the relevant achievement is a proposition that the respondent will acknowledge, despite the social performance around it. The dramatic coloring remains essential because it shows how difficult such acknowledgment may be when a rival and beloved are watching.

Places to read

133dὉ δὲ καὶ μάλα εἰρωνικῶς εἶπε δύο — The narrator explicitly characterizes the cultured lover’s double response as ironic.
133dΠρὸς μὲν τόνδε μοι εἰρήσθω ὅτι οὐδέτερα — His answer to the rival denies both fineness and goodness.

Translation in this edition

The edition renders the phrase “very ironically” and explains the underlying noun in its note. It compares Thrasymachus’ charge against Socrates in Republic 337a. That parallel supplies a range of usage; it does not identify the present speaker with Socrates or make the present remark an instance of exactly the same strategy. The Greek eipe dyo, “said two,” is translated as “gave two answers,” making an implied object explicit without inventing a third position.