14–15
BUYER
Are you telling riddles, man, or making conundrums? You are just like Apollo, for you say nothing plainly.Heraclitus was nicknamed ὁ σκοτεινός, “the Obscure.”
HERACLITEAN
Because you matter naught to me.
10
BUYER
Then nobody in his sense will buy you.
HERACLITEAN
I bid ye go weep, one and all, buy you or buy you not.
BUYER
This fellow’s trouble is not far removed from insanity. However, I for my part will not buy either of them.
HERMES
They are left unsold also.
HERMES
Do you want the Athenian over there, who has so much to say?Both Socrates and Plato contribute to the picture of the typical Academic. Consequently some editors, misled by the manuscripts (see introductory note) ascribe the part of Academic to Socrates, some to Plato, and some divide it between the two.
HERMES
Come here, sir. We are putting up a righteous and intelligent philosophy. Who'll buy the height of sanctity?
BUYER
Tell me what you know best?
ACADEMIC
I am a lover, and wise in matters of love.
5
BUYER
How am I to buy you, then? What I wanted was a tutor for my son, who is handsome.
ACADEMIC
But who would be more suitable than I to associate with a handsome lad? It is not the body I love, it is the soul that I hold beautiful. As a matter of fact, even if they lie beneath the same cloak with me, they will tell you that I have done them no wrong.See Plato’s Symposium, particularly 216 p-219 D.
BUYER
I can’t believe what you say, that you, though a lover, take no interest in anything beyond the soul, even when you have the opportunity, lying beneath the same cloak.
