The cost of repetition
SocratesWhat? Must you and I praise the speech because its author has said what ought to be said, rather than only because it is clear and well rounded, with every word precisely turned? If we must, I shall agree for your sake. In my insignificance I failed to notice it. I paid attention only to its rhetoric, and I thought even Lysias himself would not have considered that enough. Besides, Phaedrus, unless you see it differently, he seemed to me to say the same things two and three times, as if he were short of ideas about his subject, or perhaps simply did not care. He appeared to be showing off, as a young man might, his ability to say the same thing in different ways, and each time say it best.
PhaedrusThat is nonsense, Socrates. This is the very thing the speech does best. He has left out nothing worth saying on the subject, so that no one could ever add anything to what he said that was greater in scope or worth.
SocratesI cannot agree with you there. Wise men and women of old who spoke and wrote about these matters would prove me wrong if I conceded it just to please you.
PhaedrusName them. Where did you hear something better than this?