ADEIMANTOS: o miserable me.

( on a liferaft in the middle of ocean )

to row these oars in such obscurity,

low, mean, and disengaging, thankless work.

maybe wed all have rather died at Troy.

what kind of man would ever choose this life?

SOKRATES: and( indeed )everywhere( in-every-part )upon all( men )

( they )fasten( attach )( bestow upon )( grant )

( to-by-for )philosophy( wisdom-love )

( the )belief( reputation-opinion )( expectation-glory )

( seeming )( o seeming )( they seem)

of the sort which( you )say,

πανταχῇ καὶ ἐπὶ πάντας δόξαν οἵαν λέγεις φιλοσοφίᾳ προσῆψαν.

ADEIMANTOS: o so true. and in addition to that,

she seems to demand ( holding myself back )

from things that seem most selfie to myself.

when what we say feels strange for me to say.

to hold me back from what, from my own speech?

from holding back itself? and so perplexed.

from ( fighting the familiar dark )? o goddess,

what would the familiar be, some shadow-me?

she holds me back from fighting — who or what?

HERA: o some( not quite nobody )nothing,

( he )( or she )( or things )needy( wanting )( lacking )

( being without )( not having )( falling short of )

( stinted in the matter of )( inferior to )( too weak for )

the( she )might( strength-force-power )of that( he ),

μηδέν τι βίην ἐπιδευέα κείνου:

ADEIMANTOS: o goddess shade ( sighs ) at leat its not a curse . . .

but still we wonder, which-he she means.

which he truly holds the might of she?

and barely does the thought occur to me,

of him in his cell, on that appointed day,

before ( the corners of my mouth ) tremble,

and soon my eyes melt into full-on weeping.

and youd laugh to see me its so pitiful.

but famously, this one doesnt shed a tear.

its not that easy for me ( holding something in ),

SAILORS: but which( things )?

τίνας δέ,

SOKRATES: whoa whoa whoa ( woah ).

( holding it together ) like a nobody

isnt the same as holding something in.

such as nobody often cries and complains.

but releasing lamentation without blame,

and slightly ( turning upwards ) at the end,

as almost self-misdirection,

SAILORS: he was saying,

ἔφη,

SOKRATES: so that when its time, its effortless again

to draw the bow or lyre with steady hands,

and ( like were not the one ) suffering our pain.

and when ( despite the hurdles ) and the games,

SAILORS: ( you )speak the destructions( ruins, passings-

away, deaths, corruptions ),

τὰς διαφθορὰς λέγεις;

SOKRATES: to speak ( despite the hurt ) not as somebody

( who needs holding ) but as Odysseus might,

when hes already at home in her arms.

ADEIMANTOS: ( whose arms, Poseidons seas or Penelopes? )

SOKRATES: or if it helps you bear our suffering,

come dream of being held right here in ours.

and lets go back and translate every time

Odysseus feels sorry for himself, together.

Nobody mourns his destiny a lot,

ADEIMANTOS: and makes a spectacle of himself too.

we love that part, when hes tossed by the waves.

( looks around at the calm seas ) ( gets to work )

ok, lets let Odysseus be wailing-through —

MEDEIS: O( to-by-for )me( we )ego( being )cowardly( vile,

worthless, lowborn, mean, afraid, miserable, wretched, poor ),

what( someone )now( to-by-for )me longest-lasting( would be )born?

ὤ μοι ἐγὼ δειλός, τί νύ μοι μήκιστα γένηται;

ADEIMANTOS: o, hm. someone now . . . me = somebody?

wait. him? or. what . . . you? ( he sits puzzling-

out for an hour or two ) ( before announcing )

o nobodys, o somebodys, o Sokrates.

but maybe this is what the rowings for.

we seem to be, until now, an open question.

//

from hymn to Apollo

Republic VI

Odyssey V.300, XI.613-626

holding

lightness