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dear Phaedrus, whence come you, and whither are you going?

Phaedrus. I have come from Lysias the son of Cephalus, and I am going to take a walk outside the wall, for I have been sitting with him the whole morning ; and our common friend Acumenus tells me that it is much more refreshing to walk in the open air than to be shut up in a cloister.

Soc. There he is right. Lysias then, I suppose, was in the town ?

Phaedr. Yes, he was staying with Epicrates, here at the house of Morychus ; that house which is near the temple of Olympian Zeus.

Soc. And how did he entertain you ? Can I be wrong in supposing that Lysias gave you a feast of discourse ? Phaedr. You shall hear, if you can spare time to accom- pany me.

Soc. And should I not deem the conversation of you and Lysias 'a thing of higher import,' as I may say in the words of Pindar, ' than any business ' ?

Phaedr. Will you go on ?

Soc. And will you go on with the narration ?

Phaedr. My tale, Socrates, is one of your sort, for love was the theme which occupied us—love after a fashion: Lysias has been writing about a fair youth who was being tempted, but not by a lover; and this was the point: he