resistance; and in this way he and his companion escaped--for this is the
sort of man who is never touched in war; those only are pursued who are
running away headlong. I particularly observed how superior he was to
Laches in presence of mind. Many are the marvels which I might narrate in
praise of Socrates; most of his ways might perhaps be paralleled in another
man, but his absolute unlikeness to any human being that is or ever has
been is perfectly astonishing. You may imagine Brasidas and others to have
been like Achilles; or you may imagine Nestor and Antenor to have been like
Pericles; and the same may be said of other famous men, but of this strange
being you will never be able to find any likeness, however remote, either
among men who now are or who ever have been--other than that which I have
already suggested of Silenus and the satyrs; and they represent in a figure
not only himself, but his words. For, although I forgot to mention this to
you before, his words are like the images of Silenus which open; they are
ridiculous when you first hear them; he clothes himself in language that is
like the skin of the wanton satyr--for his talk is of pack-asses and smiths
and cobblers and curriers, and he is always repeating the same things in
the same words (compare Gorg.), so that any ignorant or inexperienced
person might feel disposed to laugh at him; but he who opens the bust and
sees what is within will find that they are the only words which have a
meaning in them, and also the most divine, abounding in fair images of
virtue, and of the widest comprehension, or rather extending to the whole
duty of a good and honourable man.

This, friends, is my praise of Socrates. I have added my blame of him for
his ill-treatment of me; and he has ill-treated not only me, but Charmides
the son of Glaucon, and Euthydemus the son of Diocles, and many others in
the same way--beginning as their lover he has ended by making them pay
their addresses to him. Wherefore I say to you, Agathon, 'Be not deceived
by him; learn from me and take warning, and do not be a fool and learn by