Oaristēs, enneōros, and the limits of an interpretation

Use in the book

The pivotal line says that Minos was king, enneōros, Zeus' oaristēs (319b, repeated 319d). Socrates joins the difficult temporal adjective to the intimate association and interprets the relation as recurring meetings with Zeus in words. His argument is explicit: oaroi are logoi, and an oaristēs is someone who associates in words (319e). The linguistic explanation establishes how he wants “confidant” understood; it does not by itself prove that every familiar conversation is educational or that the Homeric adjective can have no other sense.

Socrates fills out this reading with a pattern of visits to Zeus' cave. Minos goes to learn some things and to display what he learned in the preceding period. The recurrent training coheres with the dialogue's account of lawgiving as expertise and with the need to apply what one knows. It also supplies a reason to regard Minos as especially honored: direct instruction from Zeus has been allotted to him alone among the heroes in Homer's portrayal.

The rival interpretation makes the confidant a drinking-companion and playfellow of Zeus. Socrates challenges it through a reported Cretan law and an assumption about consistency of conviction and conduct. That move is significant: the discussion does not remain a dictionary dispute. What the word can mean is assessed in relation to the kind of man and lawgiver Minos is taken to be. A reader may follow the internal coherence of this construction while recognizing that the law, the character assumption and the educational meaning support one another.

Care is also needed with the chronology. The lexicon need not impose a modern schedule on expressions using ancient ordinal and period vocabulary. The dialogue says “in the ninth year,” “every ninth year,” and speaks of the preceding enneetēris; it is enough to preserve those forms and the recurrent sense. Certainty about the precise calendar interval would exceed the supplied explanation.

Places to read

1. 319b; 319dἐννέωρος βασίλευε Διὸς μεγάλου ὀαριστής — The quoted Homeric line, given twice
2. 319cσυγγίγνεσθαι ἐνάτῳ ἔτει τῷ Διὶ ἐν λόγοις — Socrates' prose reading of the relationship and timing
3. 319eοἱ γὰρ ὄαροι λόγοι εἰσίν — His explanation of familiar converse
4. 319eὀαριστὴς συνουσιαστής ἐστιν ἐν λόγοις — The gloss makes the confidant an associate in words
5. 319eδι’ ἐνάτου ἔτους; τῇ προτέρᾳ ἐννεετηρίδι — The recurrent visits and the preceding period
6. 319eσυμπότην καὶ συμπαιστὴν — The rival interpretation, reported and rejected

Translation in this edition

“Nine-yearly confidant” deliberately lets the English reader see Socrates' chosen attachment of the adjective. The accompanying note prevents that rendering from being mistaken for an uncontested translation of Homer. “Confidences,” “confidant,” and “one who is with another in words” retain the stages of the explanatory move.

Cave — ἄντρον (antron)

ἄντρον (antron)

Cave. The cave of Zeus to which Minos repeatedly goes in Socrates' elaboration of the Homeric verse. Attested: ἄντρον (319e). Oaristēs, enneōros, and the limits of an interpretation.

Confidant — ὀαριστής (oaristēs)

ὀαριστής (oaristēs)

Confidant. A familiar friend or intimate associate in Homer's verse; Socrates interprets the relation specifically as association in words for education. Attested: ὀαριστής (319b). Oaristēs, enneōros, and the limits of an interpretation.

Confidences — ὄαροι (oaroi)

ὄαροι (oaroi)

Confidences. Familiar converse or confidences, which Socrates glosses as words in explaining oaristēs. Attested: ὄαροι (319e). Oaristēs, enneōros, and the limits of an interpretation.

Preceding — πρότερος (proteros)

πρότερος (proteros)

Preceding. Earlier or previous, specifying the nine-year period in which Minos had acquired the learning he now shows. Attested: προτέρᾳ (319e). Oaristēs, enneōros, and the limits of an interpretation.

Nine-year period — ἐννεετηρίς (enneetēris)

ἐννεετηρίς (enneetēris)

Nine-year period. The period of earlier learning whose results Minos displays at his next visit to Zeus; preserve the source's temporal wording. Attested: ἐννεετηρίδι (319e). Oaristēs, enneōros, and the limits of an interpretation.

Nine-yearly — ἐννέωρος (enneōros)

ἐννέωρος (enneōros)

Nine-yearly. The uncertain Homeric adjective that Socrates takes with confidant and explains by recurring ninth-year meetings; his reading is not the only possible Homeric sense. Attested: ἐννέωρος (319b). Oaristēs, enneōros, and the limits of an interpretation.

Ninth — ἔνατος (enatos)

ἔνατος (enatos)

Ninth. The ordinal in Socrates' prose explanation of Minos' recurring association with Zeus in the ninth year. Attested: ἐνάτῳ (319c). Oaristēs, enneōros, and the limits of an interpretation.

Take — ὑπολαμβάνειν (hypolambanein)

ὑπολαμβάνειν (hypolambanein)

Take. To suppose or interpret; introduces the rival reading of Minos as Zeus' drinking-companion and playmate. Attested: ὑπολαμβάνουσι (319e). Oaristēs, enneōros, and the limits of an interpretation.

Every ninth year (contextual phrase)

319e: δι’ ἐνάτου ἔτους. The periodic expression belongs to Socrates' elaboration of ἐννέωρος. It makes repeated visits explicit in his account. That explicit prose does not retroactively eliminate the uncertainty of the Homeric adjective when considered on its own. Nor should it be converted into a modern calendar schedule without attending to ancient ways of counting an interval. See Confidant and nine yearly.