[142a]
Eucleides
Just in from the country, Terpsion, or did you come some time ago?Terpsion
Quite a while ago; and I was looking for you in the market-place and wondering that I could not find you.Eucleides
Well, you see, I was not in the city.Terpsion
Where then?Eucleides
As I was going down to the harbor I met Theaetetus being carried to Athens from the camp at Corinth.Terpsion
Alive or dead? [142b] Eucleides
Just barely alive; for he is suffering severely from wounds, and, worse than that, he has been taken with the sickness that has broken out in the army.Terpsion
You mean the dysentery?Eucleides
Yes.Terpsion
What a man he is who you say is in danger!Eucleides
A noble man, Terpsion, and indeed just now I heard some people praising him highly for his conduct in the battle.Terpsion
That is not at all strange; it would have been much more remarkable if he had not so conducted himself. But why did he not [142c] stop here in Megara?Eucleides
He was in a hurry to get home; for I begged and advised him to stop, but he would not. So I went along with him, and as I was coming back I thought of Socrates and wondered at his prophetic gift, especially in what he said about him. For I think he met him a little before his own death, when Theaetetus was a mere boy, and as a result of acquaintance and conversation with him, he greatly admired his qualities. When I went to Athens he related to me the conversation [142d] he had with him, which was well worth hearing, and he said he would surely become a notable man if he lived.Terpsion
And he was right, apparently. But what was the talk? Could you relate it?Eucleides
No, by Zeus, at least not offhand.
Just in from the country, Terpsion, or did you come some time ago?Terpsion
Quite a while ago; and I was looking for you in the market-place and wondering that I could not find you.Eucleides
Well, you see, I was not in the city.Terpsion
Where then?Eucleides
As I was going down to the harbor I met Theaetetus being carried to Athens from the camp at Corinth.Terpsion
Alive or dead? [142b] Eucleides
Just barely alive; for he is suffering severely from wounds, and, worse than that, he has been taken with the sickness that has broken out in the army.Terpsion
You mean the dysentery?Eucleides
Yes.Terpsion
What a man he is who you say is in danger!Eucleides
A noble man, Terpsion, and indeed just now I heard some people praising him highly for his conduct in the battle.Terpsion
That is not at all strange; it would have been much more remarkable if he had not so conducted himself. But why did he not [142c] stop here in Megara?Eucleides
He was in a hurry to get home; for I begged and advised him to stop, but he would not. So I went along with him, and as I was coming back I thought of Socrates and wondered at his prophetic gift, especially in what he said about him. For I think he met him a little before his own death, when Theaetetus was a mere boy, and as a result of acquaintance and conversation with him, he greatly admired his qualities. When I went to Athens he related to me the conversation [142d] he had with him, which was well worth hearing, and he said he would surely become a notable man if he lived.Terpsion
And he was right, apparently. But what was the talk? Could you relate it?Eucleides
No, by Zeus, at least not offhand.