Lion and fawn

Use in the book

Socrates cites Cydias while describing the effect of Charmides' look and bodily beauty. The poetic warning envisages a fawn approaching a lion and, on the edition’s construal, becoming a portion of meat. Socrates immediately says he felt captured by such a creature.

The reversal is the point. In the surrounding courtship, older admirers have gathered around a young man; the person who might expect to pursue now feels helpless before the other's attraction. The image dramatizes the discrepancy between social initiative and experienced power. It does not make Charmides literally violent, though the final threat of force gives readers reason to remember earlier images of irresistible strength.

The capture vocabulary has another echo at 169c: Critias is caught by perplexity after watching Socrates' perplexity. The erotic and intellectual situations are not identical, but the common verb lets vulnerability pass from narrator to respondent. A force that seemed external and personal in the prologue is reimagined as an argumentative predicament shared between speakers.

Places to read

1. 155d–eThe Cydias quotation and Socrates’ declaration that he has been caught
2. 169cCritias is later caught by perplexity, repeating the capture family
3. 155d (apparatus)23The quoted wording is textually variable at d6–7

Translation in this edition

The line's syntax and textual variants require caution: Burnet prints αἱρεῖσθαι while recording Cobet's αἰτεῖσθαι, and B has a drastically different phrase. The edition's “to be caught as a portion of meat” makes its construal explicit; it is not a word-for-word equivalent of every transmitted version.

εὐλαβέομαι

Attested: εὐλαβεῖσθαι (eulabeisthai). To beware or be on one’s guard; introduces Cydias’ warning against approaching the beautiful beloved as a vulnerable fawn approaches a lion. References: 155d. Lexical identification: lemma: εὐλαβέομαι. See Lion and fawn.

θρέμμα

Attested: θρέμματος (thremmatos). Creature or beast; Socrates applies it to the beautiful Charmides within the lion-and-fawn comparison, saying he himself has been caught by such a creature. References: 155e. Lexical identification: lemma: θρέμμα. See Lion and fawn.

λέων

Attested: λέοντος (leontos). Lion; the dangerous beautiful beloved in Cydias’ warning, against whom the approaching lover is figured as a fawn. References: 155d. Lexical identification: lemma: λέων. See Lion and fawn.

μοῖρα

Attested: μοῖραν (moiran). A portion or allotted share; within Cydias’ quotation the approaching fawn risks becoming a portion of meat, an image of erotic capture. References: 155d. Lexical identification: lemma: μοῖρα. See Lion and fawn.

νεβρός

Attested: νεβρὸν (nebron). A fawn; the vulnerable lover in Cydias’ image, approaching the lion-like beloved and risking capture. References: 155d. Lexical identification: lemma: νεβρός. See Lion and fawn.

αἱρεῖσθαι (haireisthai)

Middle/passive infinitive of αἱρέω; the edition construes the fawn as caught as a portion of meat. The syntax and the conjecture αἰτεῖσθαι require caution. References: 155d. Lemma: αἱρέω. See Lion and fawn.

εὐλαβεῖσθαι (eulabeisthai)

To be on one's guard; Cydias warns the fawn against entering the lion's presence. References: 155d. Lemma: εὐλαβέομαι. See Lion and fawn.

θρέμματος (thremmatos)

A creature or animal; resumes the lion-and-fawn imagery while reversing the apparent roles of hunter and prey. References: 155e. Lemma: θρέμμα. See Lion and fawn.