Plato

“ THEAGES:
It seems so from what I have said.
SOCRATES:
O you wicked (youth) ! Do you desire to tyrannize over us? And have you for a long time blamed your father, because he did not send you to the school of some tyrant-teacher?18 And are not you, Demodocus, ashamed of yourself? who, having known a long time ago what this youth desired, and having likewise the power of sending him, where you might have made him that skilful artist in wisdom, of which he is desirous, have, notwithstanding, begrudged him this, and are unwilling to send him? ”

“ DEMODOCUS:
Let us go then, Socrates. All natural productions, growing out of the earth, and other animals as well as man, appear to subsist in nearly the same manner. For to such of us as cultivate the ground it is a thing the most easy in the case of plants, to prepare every thing prior to planting, and even the planting itself. But when what has been planted is in a living state, the care of it becomes great and painful, and difficult. The same thing appears to take place with respect to human beings likewise. ”

“ For he desires, Socrates, as he says, to become a wise man. I suspect that certain youths of his own age, and of the same ward, have been going down to the city, and repeating certain discourses, and disturbed his mind very much. Of these he is emulous; and for a long time is giving me great trouble, thinking it fit that I should pay attention to him, and pay money to some of the sophists, who might make him a wise man. For the money indeed I care less than nothing3, but think that, in going whither he is hastening, he is running into no small danger. ”

“ Of such kind then is, Theages, the intercourse with myself; for, if it is pleasing to the god, you will make a very great and rapid proficiency; but if not, not. See, then, whether it is not safer for you to be instructed by some one of those, who have a power over the benefit, with which they benefit men, than by me, who (have the power) to do only whatever may happen.
THEAGES:
It appears to me, Socrates, that we should act in this manner, namely, to make a trial of this daemon by associating together. And, if he is favourable to us, this will be the best ”

“ SOCRATES:
Counsel, Demodocus, is said to be a sacred thing.5 If then any other consultation is sacred, this is so, about which you are now considering. For there is not a thing, about which a person may consult, more divine, than about the instruction of himself and of those related to him. ”

“ But they, whom the power of the daemon assists to the intercourse, are those whom you have noticed; for in a short time they make a proficiency. And of those, who make a proficiency, some have the benefit firm and lasting; but many, as long as they are with me, advance in a wonderful manner; but when they separate themselves from me, they again differ in no respect from any person whatever. This did Aristides, the son of Lysimachus and grandson of Aristides, suffer ”

“ But Stalbaum himself feels disposed to refer it to Antipater, who flourished about A. c. 150, and who was the teacher of Panaetius, and the disciple of Diogenes of Babylon, and who wrote, as appears from Cicero de Divinat. i. 3, a work on the wonderful divinations made by Socrates, of which there are some curious instances given in this dialogue; and as both Cicero, and Plutarch in his treatise, On the Daemon of Socrates, seem to have made use of the work of Antipater, so probably did the author of this dialogue. ”

“ Stalbaum, in ed. 1, correctly observes, that there is some error here.
36 As no mention is made of a previous conversation, it is not easy to understand Ti legeis.
37 By comparing this account with that in Thucyd. viii. 1, it would seem that Socrates proved his daemon to be a truer prophet than were the oracle-chaunters, who predicted that the Athenians would gain possession of the whole of Sicily.
38 I have adopted Stalbaum's notion, that tou kalou means the “beautiful,” not, as others, from the time of Ficinus, have rendered—“the son of Kalus.” ”

“ But in that kind of learning I lay claim31 to being more skilled than any one man of the past or present time.
THEAGES:
See you, father, how Socrates does not appear to me to be very willing to pass the time with me. For, as to myself, I am ready, if he is willing. But he says this, playing with us. For I know some of the same age with myself, and (others) a little older, who, before they associated with him, were worth nothing ”

“ Hitherto I have by soothing restrained him; but as I am no longer able (to do so) , I think it best to yield to him, lest by frequently associating (with others) 4 without me, he should be corrupted. Hence I am come for this very purpose, that I may place him with some one of those, who are considered to be sophists. ”

“ And if you are willing to inquire of Clitomachus, the brother of Timarchus34, what Timarchus said to him, when, being about to die, he went right against the daemon35, both he and Euathlus, the runner in the stadium, who received Timarchus when he was an exile, will tell you what he then said. ”

“ On the other hand, Egeria, the Nymph by whom Numa was instructed, was a water-drinker, as may be inferred from Juvenal, who speaks of a fountain dedicated to her.
21 Theages here alludes to what Socrates was wont to say, that men should endeavour to become similar to the deity.
22 Stalbaum here refers to Protag. p. ”