Pyrilampes

Use in the book

Socrates reports that whenever Pyrilampes went as ambassador to the Great King or another ruler on the continent, no man there was thought more handsome or larger. This is diplomatic distinction presented through bodily appearance. The formulation is explicitly reportorial: “it is said” and “was thought” locate the claim in reputation, just as other people report Charmides' beauty and temperance.

The two sides of the family are praised in different registers. The paternal house receives inherited poetic encomium; the maternal uncle's embassies produce admiration abroad. Both are gathered into Socrates' expectation that Charmides will be first in everything. Yet the expectation remains conditional with respect to the soul: visible beauty is one thing, sufficient natural equipment for temperance another.

The supplied editorial material adds Pyrilampes' later connection with Plato's mother. That wider family history is relevant to Plato's choice of people but is not given in the spoken praise. Plutarch's later account also mentions Pyrilampes in connection with peacocks and comic gossip about Pericles. Such evidence should not be imported as a hidden allegation inside the present diplomatic compliment.

Places to read

1. 158a–bPyrilampes’ foreign embassies and admired appearance support praise of the maternal house

Translation in this edition

The rendering “bigger” preserves the bodily sense available in μείζων beside καλλίων. “Greater” alone risks turning a praise of impressive stature into an unqualified ranking of political or moral greatness.

Πυριλάμπης

Attested: Πυριλάμπους (pyrilampous). Pyrilampes, Charmides’ maternal uncle, praised for his exceptional appearance during embassies to the Great King and elsewhere. References: 158a. Lexical identification: lemma: Πυριλάμπης. See Pyrilampes.