Sicily, Sannion, and the current expedition

Use in the book

The Sicilian reference is retrospective. Socrates says the listeners can hear from many people what he had said about the army’s destruction. He gives no exact earlier prediction, occasion or personal intervention in the expedition. The supplied note identifies the Athenian expedition of 415–413 BC and its disastrous end. This historical background makes the allusion intelligible without supplying words that the present narrative omits.

The next example is explicitly unfinished. The sign occurred at the departure on campaign of Sannion, described as beautiful. He has now gone with Thrasyllus towards Ephesus and Ionia. Socrates thinks he will die or suffer something close to it and expresses strong fear for the rest of the army. His “I think” marks an inference or forecast; the voice is not quoted as declaring those precise alternatives. The narrative never returns with news of Sannion.

The difference between the examples is part of the argument for testing the sign: the past may be investigated through people who know, whereas this expedition makes a current test possible. The edition’s historical note links Thrasyllus’ sailing and defeat at Ephesus to the usual reckoning of 409 BC and says that, taken strictly, Socrates’ words place the conversation before the news. That contextual identification is not an internal fulfilment of the individual forecast about Sannion. No independent fate for him is supplied.

Names also require restraint. Sannion’s epithet kalos means “beautiful”; the edition rejects the need to take it as a father’s name. Thrasyllus is the commander in the reported current expedition, not the later literary arranger of the Platonic tetralogies mentioned in the Introduction. The Nicias named as a murder victim in the preceding story is identified by a different patronymic and must not be assimilated to the famous Sicilian commander.

Places to read

1. 129c–dτῶν ἐν Σικελίᾳ; διαφθορᾶς τοῦ στρατοπέδου — the Sicilian army’s destruction is already past
2. 129dΣαννίωνος τοῦ καλοῦ — Sannion is the beautiful man, with no stated patronymic
3. 129dμετὰ Θρασύλλου … Ἐφέσου καὶ Ἰωνίας — his expedition’s leader and destinations
4. 129dοἴομαι … ἀποθανεῖσθαι — Socrates forecasts rather than narrates Sannion’s death
5. 129dτῆς στρατιᾶς τῆς ἄλλης … φοβοῦμαι — fear extends to the remaining army
6. 130aστρατεία τις — Aristides’ separate, unspecified campaign is not identified with either expedition

Translation in this edition

Notes 34–3623 provide the historical bearings and explain the old misreading “son of Calus”. The apparatus records the textual choice stratias at 129d. The English rightly preserves the prospective form of the current forecast and the indefinite character of Aristides’ later campaign.

Army; force — στρατιά

Army; force. The body of troops for whose safety Socrates fears beyond the individual Sannion. Attested: στρατιᾶς (129d). Sicily, Sannion, and the current expedition.

Army — στρατόπεδον

Army. Literally a camp or encamped army; the military force destroyed in the Sicilian disaster. Attested: στρατοπέδου (129d). Sicily, Sannion, and the current expedition.

Be afraid — φοβεῖσθαι

Be afraid. To fear; Socrates expresses anxiety for the rest of the army without reporting its eventual fate. Attested: φοβοῦμαι (129d). Sicily, Sannion, and the current expedition.

Be gone — οἴχεσθαι

Be gone. To have gone away; the idiomatic present places Sannion’s departure before the conversation. Attested: οἴχεται (129d). Sicily, Sannion, and the current expedition.

Campaign; military service — στρατεία

Campaign; military service. The unspecified military undertaking that takes Aristides away from Socrates; not identified with the preceding expeditions. Attested: στρατεία (130a). Sicily, Sannion, and the current expedition.

Destruction — διαφθορά

Destruction. The ruin of the army in Sicily; this occurrence concerns military loss rather than the boy’s possible educational corruption. Attested: διαφθορᾶς (129d). Sicily, Sannion, and the current expedition.

Ephesus — Ἔφεσος

Ephesus. A destination of the current campaign, named alongside Ionia in the forecast whose outcome remains open in the dialogue. Attested: Ἐφέσου (129d). Sicily, Sannion, and the current expedition.

Go on campaign — στρατεύεσθαι

Go on campaign. To undertake military service; the future participle gives Sannion’s purpose in travelling with Thrasyllus. Attested: στρατευσόμενος (129d). Sicily, Sannion, and the current expedition.

Ionia — Ἰωνία

Ionia. The eastern Greek region named as a destination of Sannion’s expedition with Thrasyllus. Attested: Ἰωνίας (129d). Sicily, Sannion, and the current expedition.

Sannion — Σαννίων

Sannion. The beautiful man currently away with Thrasyllus; Socrates forecasts severe danger, but his fate is not reported. Attested: Σαννίωνος (129d). Sicily, Sannion, and the current expedition.

Setting out — ἐξορμή

Setting out. Departure on an undertaking; Sannion’s setting out on campaign occasions the sign. Attested: ἐξορμῇ (129d). Sicily, Sannion, and the current expedition.

Sicily — Σικελία

Sicily. The region of the already disastrous Athenian expedition invoked as a retrospective example. Attested: Σικελίᾳ (129c). Sicily, Sannion, and the current expedition.

Think; suppose — οἴεσθαι (oiesthai)

οἴεσθαι (oiesthai)

Think; suppose. To form a judgement; it qualifies Socrates’ forecast about Sannion rather than quoting an explicit prediction spoken by the voice. Attested: οἴομαι (129d). Sicily, Sannion, and the current expedition.

Thrasyllus — Θράσυλλος

Thrasyllus. The military leader with whom Sannion has sailed towards Ephesus and Ionia; distinct from the later catalogue arranger. Attested: Θρασύλλου (129d). Sicily, Sannion, and the current expedition.