On the God of Socrates

...to cherish [mankind], to make good things prosper, to raise up the humble, to support the wavering, to clarify the obscure, to rule over favorable things, and to correct adverse ones.

51 XVII 157

|| What || wonder then, if Socrates—a man supremely perfect and wise even by the testimony of Apollo—recognized and honored this god of his? Because of this, his guardian—I might almost say 5 a companion and intimate house-mate—warded off all things that were to be avoided, guarded against what was to be feared, and forewarned him of what needed warning. This occurred especially in cases where, the duties of wisdom being exhausted original: "interfectis sapientiae officiis"; this refers to situations where human reason and logic have reached their limit and can no longer provide a clear path forward, he needed not counsel but a sign original: "praesagio"; so that where he faltered in doubt, there he might stand firm through divination. 158 For there are many things, very many, about which even wise men must run to soothsayers original: "ariolos" and oracles. Do you not see in Homer, as if in a certain 10 great mirror, these two duties clearly distributed—those of divination on one side, and those of wisdom on the other? 52 For when the two pillars of the whole army disagree—Agamemnon, powerful in his kingship, and Achilles, mighty in war—and a man is needed, praised for eloquence and remembered for experience, to restrain the pride of the son of Atreus Agamemnon but also the ferocity of the son of Peleus Achilles, and to turn them with authority, warn them with examples, and soothe them with speech: who then was summoned to speak at such a time? Surely the orator of Pylos Nestor, 15 courteous in his eloquence, clever through experience, and venerable in his old age; everyone knew that though his body was dulled by years, his mind flourished in wisdom and his words flowed with sweetness. Likewise, when affairs are dark and desperate and scouts must be chosen 159 XVIII to penetrate the enemy camp in the dead of night, are not Odysseus original: "Ulixes" and Diomedes chosen like counsel and aid, mind and hand, spirit and sword? 53 Indeed, when at Aulis—among those idle, besieged, and refusing out of boredom—the difficulty of the war, the possibility 160 20 of the journey, the calm of the sea, and the mercy of the winds had to be explored through the marks on entrails original: "fibrarum notas"; the practice of haruspicy, or reading animal organs to predict the future, the paths of birds, and the feeding of serpents, those two highest peaks of Greek wisdom, the man of Ithaca Odysseus and the man of Pylos Nestor, remained silent together. 161 But Calchas, far superior in soothsaying, as soon as he had observed the birds, the altars, and the tree, immediately used his divination to bend the storms, lead the fleet out, and predict the ten-year duration of the war. 54 In the same way, in the Trojan army, when matters required divination, 25 that wise council remained silent, nor did Hicetaon, Lampus, or Cly- 162 [tius dare to pronounce anything...]