蘇格拉底：我沒說過這句話！（滑稽）

Did Socrates really say "if you get a bad wife, you"ll become a philosopher" in any original texts like Plato"s or Xenophon"s dialogue?

蘇格拉底真的說過：「如果娶了悍妻，你就會變成哲學家」這句話嗎？

Nick Nicholas

墨爾本大學博士，歷史語言學授業

在柏拉圖記載或色諾芬尼對話中，蘇格拉底真的說過：「如果娶錯了妻子，你就會變成哲學家」這句話嗎？

我們來看看，一共有兩個文本提到了蘇格拉底的這段話：

John Uebersax"s answer to Did Socrates really say "if you get a bad wife, you"ll become a philosopher" in any original texts like Plato"s or Xenophon"s dialogue?

第歐根尼·拉爾修（Diogenes Laertius）， Life of Socrate（蘇格拉底的生活） XVII

他曾經說過，一個男人應該和一個烈女生活，就好像馬夫安排那些烈馬；「就像他們一樣」，蘇格拉底說，「當他們一旦制服了烈馬之後，就很容易制服其他馬匹了；所以我在搞定了贊西佩（Xanthippe，蘇格拉底之妻）之後，就很容易和其他任何人相處。」

And he used to say, that one ought to live with a restive woman, just as horsemen manage violent-tempered horses; "and as they," said he, "when they have once mastered them, are easily able to manage all others; so I, after managing Xanthippe, can easily live with any one else whatever."

第二個來源是

Michael Kambas" answer to Did Socrates really say "if you get a bad wife, you"ll become a philosopher" in any original texts like Plato"s or Xenophon"s dialogue?

色諾芬尼（Xenophon）, 酒宴（Symposium） (2.10)

「如果你這麼想的話，蘇格拉底，」安提問道，「那你為什麼不用自己講學的知識來教導贊西佩，而是和一個或許是女人堆中從沒有過，可能將來也不會有的最難相處的女人一起生活呢？

If that is your view, Socrates,」 asked Antisthenes, 「how does it come that you don"t practise what you preach by yourself educating Xanthippe, but live with a wife who is the hardest to get along with of all the women there are—yes, or all that ever were, I suspect, or ever will be?」

「因為，」他回答道，「我發現那些想成為馴馬專家的人都不去找最溫順的馬，反而找那些氣性高揚的。他們覺得如果能訓得好這種馬匹，其他的馬都不在話下了。這就像我一樣。人，是我想調理和相處的；所以我娶了她，堅信如果我能忍受她，我就不怕和其他人之間相處會有什麼困難。

「Because,」 he replied, 「I observe that men who wish to become expert horsemen do not get the most docile horses but rather those that are high-mettled, believing that if they can manage this kind, they will easily handle any other. My course is similar. Mankind at large is what I wish to deal and associate with; and so I have got her, well assured that if I can endure her, I shall have no difficulty in my relations with all the rest of human kind.」

第歐根尼·拉爾修用的詞是συνε?ναι τραχε?? γυναικ?（去和烈女在一起）；色諾芬尼用的詞是χρ? γυναικ?（得到一個女人），任何一句都沒有明確地提到娶這個字眼。
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