이제 소크라테스는 자신을 세상에서 가장 현명하다고 말한 아폴로 신탁을 믿을 수가 없어서, 자신보다 더 현명한 이를 찾기 위한 여행을 시작합니다.
Why do I mention this? Because I am going to explain to you why I have such an evil name. When I heard the answer, I said to myself, What can the god mean? and what is the interpretation of this riddle? for I know that I have no wisdom, small or great. What can he mean when he says that I am the wisest of men? And yet he is a god and cannot lie; that would be against his nature. After a long consideration, I at last thought of a method of trying the question. I reflected that if I could only find a man wiser than myself, then I might go to the god with a refutation in my hand. I should say to him, “Here is a man who is wiser than I am; but you said that I was the wisest.”
riddle: 수수께끼
against his nature: 그(아폴로 신)의 본성에 반하는
try the question: 그 의문을 해결하다
reflect: 곰곰이 생각하다
refutation: 반박, 반증
그래서 소크라테스는 먼저 지혜롭다고 알려진 정치가를 찾아가죠. 하지만 그는 사람들과 그 자신이 생각하는 것만큼 현명하지 않았고, 소크라테스는 이 사실을 그에게 이해시키려다 적만 만들고 맙니다.
Accordingly I went to one who had the reputation of wisdom, and observed to him—his name I need not mention; he was a politician whom I selected for examination—and the result was as follows: When I began to talk with him, I could not help thinking that he was not really wise, although he was thought wise by many, and wiser still by himself; and I went and tried to explain to him that he thought himself wise, but was not really wise; and the consequence was that he hated me, and his enmity was shared by several who were present and heard me.
the result was as follows: 그 결과는 다음과 같습니다.
be thought wise by many: 많은 이들에게 지혜롭다고 여겨진다
enmity: 적의
shared by several who were present and heard me: 그 자리에 있어서 내 말을 들은 모든 이들에게 공감되다, 즉 그 자리에 있던 모든 이들이 내게 같은 감정을 품다
이제 소크라테스는 신탁이 말한 의미를 어렴풋이 이해하기 시작합니다. 저 정치가는 아무 것도 모르면서 자신이 안다고 생각하지만(he knows nothing, and thinks that he knows), 자신은 아무 것도 모르긴 하지만 최소한 스스로가 안다고 생각하지도 않는다는 것이죠(I neither know nor think that I know). 이 한 가지에서 그는 스스로가 정치가보다 낫다고 생각하게 됩니다.
So I left him, saying to myself, as I went away: Well, although I do not suppose that either of us knows anything really beautiful and good, I am better off than he is—for he knows nothing, and thinks that he knows. I neither know nor think that I know. In this latter particular, then, I seem to have slightly the advantage of him. Then I went to another, who had still higher philosophical pretensions, and my conclusion was exactly the same. I made another enemy of him, and of many others besides him.
saying to myself, as I went away: 떠나면서 스스로에게 중얼거리며
I am better off than he is: 내가 그보다는 낫다. better off는 '상황이 더 나은'의 뜻
have slightly the advantage of him: 그보다는 약간 우위에 있다
pretension: 자부심
many others besides him: 그를 빼고도 많은 사람들
이어서 그는 세상에 지혜롭다고 알려진 이들보다 오히려 어리숙하고 열등해보이는 이들이 더 지혜롭다고 주장합니다. 그는 이 사실을 확인하기 위해 자칭 헤라클레스적인 고초(the “Herculean” labors)를 겪었다고 말하죠.
After this I went to one man after another, being not unconscious of the enmity which I provoked, and I lamented and feared this: but necessity was laid upon me—the word of God, I thought, ought to be considered first. And I said to myself, Go I must to all who appear to know, and find out the meaning of the oracle. And I swear to you, Athenians, by the dog I swear!—for I must tell you the truth—the result of my mission was just this: I found that the men most in repute were all but the most foolish; and that some inferior men were really wiser and better. I will tell you the tale of my wanderings and of the “Herculean” labors, as I may call them, which I endured only to find at last the oracle irrefutable.
one man after another: 한 사람씩 차례차례
provoke: 불러 일으키다
lament: 탄식하다
necessity was laid upon me: 내겐 그럴 필요가 있었습니다
Go I must to all who appear to know: 원 어순은 I must go to all who appear to know
by the dog I swear: 개에게 맹세합니다. '신에게 맹세한다'는 뜻이나, 신을 직접 언급하는 것이 불경으로 여겨져 개를 대신 언급하는 게 관례였다.
wandering: 방랑
the “Herculean” labors: 헤라클레스적인 노고.
irrefutable: 반박할 수 없는
정치가에 이어 그는 시인을 찾아갑니다. 하지만 놀랍게도 훌륭한 시를 쓴 시인들이, 정작 시가 가진 진정한 의미에 대해서는 잘 설명하지 못한다는 사실을 발견하죠. 즉 영감과 예지에 의해 글을 쓰긴 하지만 거기 담긴 진리는 이해하지 못하는 시인들을 보며, 소크라테스는 이들이 신의 예언을 그대로 전달하는 점쟁이와 다를 바가 없다고 생각하게 됩니다. 하지만 시인들은 자신이 훌륭한 시를 쓴다는 사실을 과신해, 시가 아닌 세상의 모든 문제에 대해서도 누구보다 현명하다고 믿어버리고 있었습니다. 소크라테스는 정치가들보다 자신이 더 낫다는 것과 같은 이유로, 이 시인들보다도 자신이 더 낫다고 생각하며 그들을 떠납니다.
When I left the politicians, I went to the poets; tragic, dithyrambic, and all sorts. And there, I said to myself, you will be detected; now you will find out that you are more ignorant than they are. Accordingly, I took them some of the most elaborate passages in their own writings, and asked what was the meaning of them—thinking that they would teach me something. Will you believe me? I am almost ashamed to speak of this, but still I must say that there is hardly a person present who would not have talked better about their poetry than they did themselves.
dithyrambic: 디오니소스 찬가
the most elaborate passages in their own writings: 그들 자신의 글 중 가장 정교하게 다듬어진 구절
there is hardly a person present who: (who 이하) 하는 이는 이 자리에 거의 없다.
who would not have talked better about their poetry than they did themselves: 그들의 시에 대해 그들 자신이 설명하는 것보다 더 잘 설명할 수 없는 사람
That showed me in an instant that not by wisdom do poets write poetry, but by a sort of genius and inspiration; they are like diviners or soothsayers who also say many fine things, but do not understand the meaning of them. And the poets appeared to me to be much in the same case; and I further observed that upon the strength of their poetry they believed themselves to be the wisest of men in other things in which they were not wise. So I departed, conceiving myself to be superior to them for the same reason that I was superior to the politicians.
in an instant: 즉시
diviner, soothsayer: 점쟁이, 예언가. fortuneteller
upon the strength of their poetry : 그들의 시가 가진 힘에 의거해서
in other things in which they were not wise: 그들이 전혀 현명하지 않은(잘 모르는) 다른 것들에 대해서
conceiv: 생각하다. 이해하다
be superior to: ~보다 더 낫다
(translated by Benjamin Jowett, http://www.bartleby.com/2/1/1.html)
덧글