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Soc. Now, can you tell me what appellation is given to Bacis and Sibyl and our native Amphilytus? In Aristophanes and Plato we find mention of only one Sibyl: later the name, like Bacis (an old Boeotian prophet), was applied to several oracular persons in different places. Amphilytus seems to have come from Acarnania to Athens in the time of Peisistratus.
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The. Why, soothsayers, of course, Socrates.
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Soc. That is correct. But try to answer me in that way regarding those others—Hippias and Periander: what appellation is given them on account of their government?
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The. Despots, I suppose; it must be that.
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Soc. And when a man desires to govern the whole of the people in his city, he desires the same government as those did—despotism, and to be a despot?
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The. Apparently.
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Soc. And it is this that you say you desire?
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The. It seems so, from what I have said.
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Soc. You scoundrel! So you were desiring to govern us, all the time that you were blaming your father for not sending you to some seminary of despots! And you, Demodocus, are you not ashamed of having known all the time what he is desiring, and though you could have sent him where you would have made him an expert in the wisdom which he desires, actually grudging it to him and refusing to send him? But now, look here, as he has declared against you in my presence, shall you and I consult together on the question of whose school we shall send him to, and whose classes will help him to become a wise despot?
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Dem. Yes, in faith, Socrates, let us certainly consult, as I feel this is a matter on which no slight counsel is needed.
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Soc. By and by, my good sir. Let us first cross-examine him thoroughly.
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Dem. Examine him then.
