At the crossing
SocratesDid you not notice, my dear fellow, that I had begun speaking in epic verse rather than dithyrambs, and that was while I was blaming the lover? What do you think would happen if I began praising the other man? The Nymphs, to whom you deliberately exposed me, would take full possession of me. In short, the good qualities of one man are the opposites of everything for which we blamed the other. Why make a long speech? Enough has been said about both. Let the tale meet the fate it deserves; I shall cross this river and go before you make me do something still worse.
PhaedrusNot yet, Socrates; wait until the heat passes. Can you not see that it is almost noon, when the sun stands still? Let us stay, discuss what has been said and go when it grows cooler.
SocratesYou have a divine gift for speeches, Phaedrus; you really are extraordinary. I think no one in your lifetime has brought more speeches into being than you have. Sometimes you speak yourself; sometimes you make others speak, one way or another. I except Simmias of Thebes; you far surpass all the rest. And now you seem to have caused yet another speech to be made.
PhaedrusThis sounds like no declaration of war. What speech do you mean, and why?