HALCYON.

THE DIALOGUE OF PLATO, WHICH IS ENTITLED HALCYON,

TRANSLATED BY AGOSTINO DATI OF SIENA.

CHARACTERS OF THE DIALOGUE.

The first section of text is initiated with a large ornamental drop cap 'Q' set within a square woodcut border featuring floral and Renaissance-style decorative motifs.

Of the Halcyon

What voice sounded for us, O Socrates, far from the shores and that promontory? How pleasant to the ear! What vocal animal is it, I ask? For those that live in the waters are indeed mute. SOCRATES: A certain seabird, O Chaerephon, whose name is the Halcyon The Kingfisher; it is very mournful and exceedingly plaintive, about which an ancient story has long been handed down to men. For they say that she was once a woman, the daughter of Aeolus the Greek, whom she had received as a husband while still a girl. Out of devotion and love, she mourned the dead Ceyx of Trachis, the beautiful and honorable son of his beautiful and honorable father, the Morning Star original: "luciferi Astri". Soon, however, by a certain divine power, she was clothed in feathers like a bird and circled the seas, searching for him. But though she wandered over the whole earth, she was by no means able to find him. CHAEREPHON: Is it the Halcyon, then, of which you speak? I had never heard its voice before. But to me, it seemed like something foreign. Indeed, the animal pours forth a truly mournful voice. What sort of thing is this, I ask, O Socrates? SOCRATES: It is not a large thing, Chaerephon, but it received great honor from the gods on account of its conjugal piety. For during the nesting of these birds—the Halcyons, as they call them—the world enjoys days of tranquility even in the midst of winter, of which the present day is a prime example. Do you not see the surface and upper parts of the sea, how very serene they are? The whole sea is peaceful and calm; in short, it is like a mirror (if I may say so). CHAEREPHON: You speak rightly. For today seems to be a "Halcyon day," and yesterday was also such a one. But by the gods, I ask, is it necessary to give credit to those things which were held from the beginning, O Socrates: that either women were once made from birds, or birds from women? For in no way does such a thing seem possible to happen. SOCRATES: O friend Chaerephon, we seem to be slow and somewhat dull judges both of those things which can happen and those which cannot be accomplished. For we judge plainly according to the strength of human faculty, which is both ignorant of things and unrefined, and is with difficulty led to believe; nor does it look upon things with any great insight. And so, many things often seem difficult to us even among those that are easy, and impossible among those that can be achieved. And that happens sometimes through lack of skill, but frequently because of a certain infancy of our minds themselves. For every man seems to be an infant, even one advanced to extreme old age. Since the time of life is very small and new compared to the present age. What is it then, O good man, that those from whom the powers of the gods and divine things are hidden—or those to whom the force of all nature is unknown—can say about such matters, whether they are possible or impossible? Do you remember, O Chaerephon, how great a storm arose the day before yesterday? For even thinking of it now—those lightnings and thunders, and the incredible and immense magnitudes of the winds—fear comes upon me as I think of it. One might perhaps fear that the entire fabric of the world was about to collapse. Yet afterward, a wonderful state of tranquility arose, which has lasted even until now. Which, therefore, do you think is greater and more difficult: to bring forth that serenity out of such a violent whirlwind and disturbance, and to transfer the whole world into tranquility; or rather to convert the form of a woman, transfigured into the appearance of some bird? For even our boys, knowing how to fashion and form something of this kind when they have taken mud or wax, very easily transfigure various and manifold natures of forms from the same mass. To the divine power, however—with which our faculties ought not to be compared even in the smallest part—all these things are perhaps easy by chance. Then, how much greater do you think the whole world is than yourself? Will you say? CHAEREPHON: What man, O Socrates, could grasp such a thing even in thought, or achieve it in speech? For no one could attain it by speaking. SOCRATES: And so we see now that men, if they are compared with one another, differ greatly among themselves; and one excels another both in strengths and in weaknesses. For the mature age of men, compared to infants who are, say, five or ten days old, what a great and wonderful difference it has in both weakness and strength—not only in almost all actions of life and the study of arts, but also in all those things which are either administered by the body or carried out by the mind? For these things, as I said a little while ago, do not even seem able to come into the minds of tender boys. And the magnitude of the strength of one who is of perfect age: what an immense and inestimable excellence it has over them? For one man might grasp many thousands of such infants in his hand, and do so easily. For that age from the very beginning is utterly unskilled in all things, and those which it attempts...