[600a]
is
there any tradition of a war in Homer's time that was well conducted by his
command or counsel?” “None.” “Well,
then, as might be expected of a man wise in practical affairs, are many and
ingenious inventions1 for the arts and business of life
reported of Homer as they are of Thales2 the Milesian and Anacharsis3 the
Scythian?” “Nothing whatever of the sort.”
“Well, then, if no public service is credited to him, is Homer
reported while he lived to have been a guide in education to men who took
pleasure in associating with him
1 On the literature of “inventions,” εὑρήματα, see Newman ii. p. 382 on Aristot.Pol. 1274 b 4. Cf. Virgil, Aen. vi. 663 “inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes,” and Symp. 209 A.
2 Diog. Laert. i. 23-27.
3 Diog. Laert. i. 105 says he was reported to be the inventor of the anchor and the potter's wheel.
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6 translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969.
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