_Socr._ Him, therefore, who has nothing more valuable than what he has written, by turning it upwards and downwards for a long time, patching and clipping it bit by bit, may you not justly designate a poet, or a compiler of speeches, or a writer of laws? _Phæ._ How not? _Socr._ Tell this, then, to your friend. _Phæ._ But you? what will you do? For we must not pass over your friend. _Socr._ Whom do you mean? 146. _Phæ._ The beautiful Isocrates. What news will you take him, Socrates? what shall we say he is? _Socr._ Isocrates is still young, Phædrus; but what I prophesy of him I am willing to say. _Phæ._ What? _Socr._ He appears to me to have better natural endowments than to be compared with the speeches of Lysias, and moreover to be endued with a nobler disposition, so that it would not be at all wonderful if, as he advances in age, he should in this very pursuit of speech-making, to which he is now applying himself, surpass all who have ever attempted speeches, as if they were boys, and besides, if he should not be content with this, that a more divine impulse may lead him to greater things; for, my friend, there is a natural love of wisdom in the mind of the man. This message, then, I will take from the gods of this spot to Isocrates my favourite, and do you take the other to Lysias as yours. 147. _Phæ._ This shall be done. But let us depart, since the heat has become less oppressive. _Socr._ Ought we not to go after we have prayed to these gods? _Phæ._ How not? _Socr._ O beloved Pan, and all ye other gods of this place, grant me to become beautiful in the inner man, and that whatever outward things I have may be at peace with those within. May I deem the wise man rich, and may I have such a portion of gold as none but a prudent man can either bear or employ. Do we need any thing else, Phædrus? for myself I have prayed enough. _Phæ._ Make the same prayer for me, too; for the possessions of friends are common. _Socr._ Let us depart. INTRODUCTION TO THE THEÆTETUS.