380 BC
LYSIS, OR FRIENDSHIP
by Plato
translated by Benjamin Jowett
PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: SOCRATES, who is the narrator; MENEXENUS;
HIPPOTHALES; LYSIS; CTESIPPUS. Scene: A newly-erected Palaestra
outside the walls of Athens.
I was going from the Academy straight to the Lyceum, intending to
take the outer road, which is close under the wall. When I came to the
postern gate of the city, which is by the fountain of Panops, I fell
in with Hippothales, the son of Hieronymus, and Ctesippus the
Paeanian, and a company of young men who were standing with them.
Hippothales, seeing me approach, asked whence I came and whither I was
going.
I am going, I replied, from the Academy straight to the Lyceum.
Then come straight to us, he said, and put in here; you may as well.
Who are you, I said; and where am I to come?
He showed me an enclosed space and an open door over against the
wall. And there, he said, is the building at which we all meet: and
a goodly company we are.
And what is this building, I asked; and what sort of entertainment
have you?
The building, he replied, is a newly erected Palaestra; and the
entertainment is generally conversation, to which you are welcome.
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