Nocturnal Council and the final summons to wisdom

Use in the book

The dialogue ends by summoning the Nocturnal Council to “this wisdom” (992d–e2). The deictic phrase points to the wisdom just unfolded, not merely to generic prudence or a familiar civic convention. The final call thus joins the mathematical and theological curriculum to the political project announced at the opening, where the speakers had agreed that the legislation remained incomplete without saying what makes a mortal wise.

The edition explains the institutional reference through the Laws. Its council meets from dawn until sunrise, and its members are to know the priority of soul and the ordering of celestial things by sense. “Nocturnal” should therefore not be paraphrased as an assembly that necessarily meets at midnight. The Epinomis itself supplies no new meeting timetable in its final sentence; the note gives contextual information from the earlier work.

The grammatical qualifications belong to the summoning group: “all of us,” having sufficiently known and scrutinized the wisdom, are to call the council to it. The closing command is not simply to accept the preceding speech unexamined. Knowledge and testing are built into the stated civic adoption. They recall the earlier standard of questioning and refuting poorly stated accounts, although the final verb is dokimazein rather than elenchein.

The greatest offices are first assigned to the aged who have labored at the studies, and the others are to follow them and speak auspiciously of all gods and goddesses. The council's summons closes this sequence. The passage supports a strong connection between education and authoritative civic guardianship, but it does not independently enumerate offices, prescribe a new constitution in detail, or specify that every mathematician automatically becomes a council member.

The ending is therefore both a conclusion and a practical directive. The work identifies the learning to which the council must be brought. Its final word of scrutiny also leaves readers responsible for assessing the account's compressed mathematics, theological assumptions, and stated limits rather than mistaking institutional adoption for a substitute for understanding.

Places to read

1. 973bπερὶ νόμων θέσιν — The opening recalls the setting down of laws
2. 992dτὸν νυκτερινὸν σύλλογον — The institution is expressly named
3. 992dἐπὶ ταύτην τὴν σοφίαν — The summons points to the wisdom just described
4. 992d–e2ἱκανῶς γνόντας τε καὶ δοκιμάσαντας — Sufficient knowledge and scrutiny qualify the summoners
5. 992eἡμᾶς ὀρθότατα πάντας παρακαλεῖν — All the speakers' company are to issue the call most rightly

Translation in this edition

The English uses lowercase “nocturnal council” and “summon,” and keeps “having scrutinized it” rather than substituting mere assent. The contextual note cites Laws 12.951d and 966d–967e. These passages explain the institutional background; their Greek is not part of the Epinomis' local lexical attestations.

Institution summoned to wisdom — σύλλογος (syllogos)

σύλλογος (syllogos)

Institution summoned to wisdom. The Nocturnal Council is the final civic recipient of the mathematical-theological curriculum, linking the work's conclusion to its legislative opening. Attested: σύλλογον (992d). Nocturnal Council and the final summons to wisdom.

Council's institutional designation — νυκτερινός (nykterinos)

νυκτερινός (nykterinos)

Council's institutional designation. The adjective identifies the council known from the Laws; its contextual dawn meeting time is supplied by the edition's note, not restated here. Attested: νυκτερινὸν (992d). Nocturnal Council and the final summons to wisdom.

Condition of the final summons — δοκιμάζειν (dokimazein)

δοκιμάζειν (dokimazein)

Condition of the final summons. Those summoning the council must have sufficiently known and tested the wisdom; institutional adoption is not to replace examination. Attested: δοκιμάσαντας (992e). Nocturnal Council and the final summons to wisdom.

Call toward the specified wisdom — παρακαλεῖν (parakalein)

παρακαλεῖν (parakalein)

Call toward the specified wisdom. All are to call the council to this wisdom after knowledge and scrutiny; the deictic object is the course just described. Attested: παρακαλεῖν (992e). Nocturnal Council and the final summons to wisdom.

After knowing and scrutiny (contextual phrase)

ἱκανῶς γνόντας τε καὶ δοκιμάσαντας (992d–e2)

The participles qualify those summoning the council: they must first have sufficient knowledge and have examined the proposed wisdom. The final civic directive incorporates scrutiny rather than replacing it with institutional authority. Nocturnal Council and the final summons to wisdom.