Laughter, blushing, and shame · Lexicon

From the book

The Lovers

Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordEpigelan means to laugh at or over something; erythrian means to blush or grow red.
In The LoversAt 134b the lads are delighted by the athlete’s retort and laugh at it, while the other lover blushes.
In this editionThe edition gives “laughed at it,” avoiding a vague report that the boys simply laughed, and renders the closing phrase “ashamed of what had been said before.”
A place to readἥσθη τὰ μειράκια καὶ ἐπεγέλασεν — The lads are pleased and laugh at the retort.

Meaning

Epigelan means to laugh at or over something; erythrian means to blush or grow red. Aischynesthai means to feel ashamed or be ashamed before a prospect or fact. The text uses past-tense forms for the lads’ laughter and the lover’s blush at 134b, a present plural for the adults’ possible shame at 135a, and a participle for the cultured lover’s closing shame at 139a. A blush is a visible reaction; shame is an interpreted or expressly named relation to something judged discreditable.

Neither laughter nor blushing is a logical premise. These words describe how an exchange affects people who are exposed to one another’s judgment.

Use in the book

At 134b the lads are delighted by the athlete’s retort and laugh at it, while the other lover blushes. The man who had spoken loudly to gain his beloved’s admiration receives precisely the opposite attention. Because the retort includes both the moderation principle and a bodily caricature, the laughter cannot safely be assigned to approval of the philosophical proposition alone. Socrates still needs to obtain explicit agreement to that proposition.

At 135a shame becomes an obstacle to further inquiry. Socrates proposes asking the boys and compares the adults with Homer’s suitors, who would not welcome another person’s success with the bow. The possibility is that admitting dependence on someone lower in the apparent hierarchy feels worse than remaining ignorant. The text presents this as teasing and does not record the boys being tested.

Finally, the cultured lover falls silent, ashamed of what had been said before. This reprises both the earlier blush and the high-stakes question of what is shameful. The ending may represent recognition, defeat, or a mixture. Silence alone does not specify how his beliefs have changed; the explicit assent belongs to the unlearned lover, while the others praise the discussion. A reader should preserve that difference rather than make all the participants speak an identical conclusion.

Places to read

134bἥσθη τὰ μειράκια καὶ ἐπεγέλασεν — The lads are pleased and laugh at the retort.
134bὁ δ’ ἕτερος ἠρυθρίασε — The cultured lover’s embarrassment is visible.
135aἢ ἴσως αἰσχυνόμεθα — Socrates asks whether shame prevents turning to the boys.
139aαἰσχυνθεὶς τοῖς προειρημένοις ἐσίγησεν — The cultured man’s final shame is joined to silence.

Translation in this edition

The edition gives “laughed at it,” avoiding a vague report that the boys simply laughed, and renders the closing phrase “ashamed of what had been said before.” The latter wording matters because the final praise likewise concerns “what had been said.” The note on the edition thus draws attention to a verbal framing effect without asserting that audience approval proves the argument sound.