The Visitor of the School

It is perhaps little known that there is an ancient office at the School that is established law, whose bearer is called the Visitor of the School. The Sydney Grammar School Act (1854) provides that “the Governor of the Colony for the time being shall be the visitor of the said school with authority to do all things which pertain to visitors as often as to him shall seem meet”. Even though on p. 4 of the School diary on which the leaders of the School community are listed, the Visitor is listed first, the office is shrouded in mystery and few seem to know what the Visitor does. Classics master, Dr Alexander Bril, takes a lighthearted look at the mystery of the Visitor in the following “recently discovered” Platonic dialogue, written in Classical Greek. It is hoped that the present Visitor, Her Excellency, Margaret Beazley AC QC, will kindly indulge the author, who writes of the Visitor (not referring directly to Her Excellency, but rather to an unspecified Visitor of the School) in Greek in the masculine gender because of the idiom of the Classical Greek language.

As Alcibiades and Socrates encounter each other in Hyde park, the video below traces their route through various park features toward the deserted Grammar campus during lockdown. Following the video is the dialogue that transpired along the way.

Σωκράτης
ὦ φίλε Ἀλκιβιάδη, ποῖ δὴ καὶ πόθεν;

Socrates
My dear Alcibiades, where are you off to, and where have you come from?

Ἀλκιβιάδης
παρὰ τοῦ ὀβελίσκου τοῦ Αἰγυπτιακοῦ, ὦ Σώκρατες, πορεύομαι δὲ τὸ τῶν πεπτωκότων μνημεῖον θαυμάσας πρὸς τὸν μέγαν ἀνδριάντα τὸν τοῦ οἰκιστοῦ.

Alcibiades
From the Egyptian obelisk, O Socrates, and I am going to admire the memorial of the fallen and from thence to the great statue of the founder of the colony.

Σωκράτης
τί βουλόμενος ταῦτα ὁρῶν μαθεῖν;

Socrates
What do you wish to learn by seeing these things?

Ἀλκιβιάδης
ὁποῖά γέ τοι ἡ ἀρετή. οἱ γὰρ τέκτονες διὰ τοῦτο ἐποίησαν αὐτὰ ἵνα ἀεὶ μέλλοι ἡμᾶς ἀναμνῆσαι τῆς ἀρετῆς

Alcibiades
What kind of a thing is excellence. For the craftsmen made them for this purpose, that they might always serve to remind us of excellence.

Σωκράτης
εἰπὲ οὖν μοι ἆρα διδακτὸν ἡ ἀρετή.² δοκεῖς γάρ μοι εἰδέναι.

Socrates
Tell me, then, is excellence a teachable thing? For you seem to me to know.

Ἀλκιβιάδης
μὰ Δία, ὦ Σώκρατες, οὐκ οἶδα. οὐδὲ λήξεις ἐρόμενός με τάδε ταὐτά; ἀτὰρ σὺ ἥκων πρὸς τὸ τῶν πεπτωκότων μνημεῖον τὸ παρὰ τῇ κολυμβήθρᾳ διὰ τί βαδίζεις ἐν τούτοις τοῖς εἰκόνας ἔχουσιν ὕδασιν;

Alcibiades
No, by Zeus, O Socrates, I know not. Will you not leave off asking me these same questions? But why have you come to the memorial of the fallen, the one beside the pool, and why are you walking in these waters that have reflections?

Σωκράτης
οὐκ γὰρ ὑποδεδεμένῳ μοι ἐμβάδας τε καὶ βρέχοντι τοὺς πόδας κατὰ τὸ ὑδάτιον ἰέναι ῥᾷστόν ἐστι καὶ οὐκ ἀηδές, ἄλλως τε καὶ τήνδε τὴν ὥραν τοῦ ἔτους τε καὶ τῆς ἡμέρας.³

Socrates
As I have no shoes and am cooling my feet, it is easiest to go through the water and not unpleasant, especially at this time of the year and the day.

Ἀλκιβιάδης
ἆρα μὴ ἀγνοεῖς, ὦ ἑταῖρε, ταῦτα τὰ ὕδατα ὄντα σεμνά τε καὶ ἄβατα;

Alcibiades
Surely you are not ignorant, O chum, that these waters are sacred and not to be trodden upon?

Σωκράτης
μὰ τὸν Δί’ ἠγνόουν. ἀνέλκυσον οὖν με χειρὶ καὶ μὴ ἄλλως ποιήσῃς. τῷ γὰρ μὲν νόμῳ πειστέον, σὺ δὲ μὴ ἐλπίζε οὕτως με ψέξας ἐπὶ τῷ ἐν τοῖς ὕδασιν βαδίζειν ῥᾳδίως ἀπαλλάξειν τοῦ πρὸς τὸ ἐμὸν ἐρώτημα ἀποκρίνασθαι. ἐγὼ γὰρ ἐπιθυμῶ τούτου μάλιστα γιγνώσκειν εἴ τε ἡ ἀρετὴ διδακτόν καὶ ὅποι ἀφικόμενος καταλήψομαί τινας οἵους τ’ ὄντας διδάσκειν αὐτὴν εἰ διδακτόν ἐστι·

Socrates
No, by Zeus, I did not know. Pull me out, therefore, by the hand and do not do otherwise. For one must obey the law on the one hand, but on the other, do not expect that by chastising me in this way for walking in the waters you will easily get off from having to answer my question. For I desire this greatly, to know both whether excellence may be taught and where I must go to find those that are capable of teaching it, if it is teachable.

Ἀλκιβιάδης
καὶ πῶς, ὦ μακάριε, οὐ μέλλω ἀπορεῖν ὅτι χρὴ λέγειν μὴ παρόντων τῶν ἑρμῶν ⁴ μοι πρὸς ἀρέτην ἡγησομένων; ἀτὰρ διὰ τί οὐκ εἰς τὸ διδασκαλεῖον ἐκεῖνο σπεύσεις οὐ πολὺ ἄπεχον ἐνθάδε τὸ ἔξω τε τούτου τοῦ κήπου καὶ πέραν τῆς ὁδοῦ τῆς καλουμένης Κολληγῆς ὡς πευσόμενος παρὰ τῶν ἐκεὶ διδασκάλων ἐκεῖνα ἃ μάλιστα μέλει σοι γιγνώσκειν. τόδε γὰρ τὸ διδασκαλεῖον τυγχάνει διαφέρον τῶν ἄλλων καὶ ὂν δεινὸν παιδεύειν τε καὶ γυμνάζειν.

Alcibiades
And how, my dear chap, will I not be at a loss as to what I must say since there are no herms here to lead me to excellence? But why will you not hasten to that school not far from here, the one outside this park and across College Street, to learn from the masters there those things that you care to know. For that school happens to be superior to others and most outstanding in training both the mind and the body.

Σωκράτης
καινόν γε τοῦτο. ἧλιξ μὲν γὰρ φιλεῖ ἥλικα ἕλκειν, νῦν δὲ ἆρα φῂς χρῆναί με ὄντα γέροντα οὐδὲ διασῴζοντα τὴν παλαιὰν παροιμίαν ἐπανελθεῖν εἰς τῶν διδασκάλων ὡς συνεσόμενος τοῖς παισὶν ἀγωνιζομένοις ἐν παιδιαῖς καὶ ἀγγελῶν ἐκεῖσε ἥκων, ὡς Εὐριπίδης λέγει

ἀλλ’ οἵδε παῖδες ἐκ τρόχων πεπαυμένοι στείχουσι; ⁵

ἀλλ’ ἴσως μέντοι ἰτέον ἐκεῖσε εἰ χρὴ ζητεῖν διδασκάλους ὡς ἀρίστους. εἰ δέ τις ἐμοῦ καταγελάσεται, ὅτι τηλικόσδε ὢν εἰς διδασκάλων ἀξιῶ φοιτᾶν, δοκεῖ μοι χρῆναι προβάλλεσθαί τε τὸν Ὅμηρον, ὃς ἔφη οὐκ ἀγαθὴν εἶναι αἰδῶ κεχρημένῳ ἀνδρὶ παρεῖναι⁶ , καὶ ἀναιδῶς μανθάνειν μετὰ τῶν νεανίσκων.⁷

Socrates.
Well, that is novel. For on the one hand one age usually attracts like age, but on the other, do you now say that I, who am an old-timer, must return to school – thus not preserving the ancient proverb – in order to mingle with the boys as they compete at their games and to announce when I get there, as Euripides says,

“But here come the boys, having ceased from their sport”?

But nevertheless, I must go there if it is necessary to seek the best masters possible. And if anyone shall laugh at me, because being so old, I think it right to go to school, I think I must invoke Homer, who said that “shame is no good comrade to a needy man” and I must shamelessly do my lessons with the young men.

Ἀλκιβιάδης
οὐδενί γε νεανίσκῳ ἐντεύξει ἔκει. ἆρά γε μὴ ἀγνοεῖς ὅτι ἡ νόσος ἡ στεφανοείδης πάλιν αὖ ἀπελήλακεν οἴκαδε πάντας τοὺς παῖδάς τε καὶ τοὺς νεανίσκους οἴκαδε ὅπου δεῖ μένειν μὴ συνουσίᾳ οὗτος ὁ δεινότατος λοιμὸς τὴν πόλιν ἐπινέμηται.⁸

Alcibiades
Well, you will meet no young men there. Surely you are not ignorant that the crown-like disease has again driven home all the boys and young men where they must stay lest by their gathering together this most dangerous plague should spread over the city.

Σωκράτης
ἀλλ’ ὅμως χρή παρακύπτειν εἰς τῶν διδασκάλων καὶ περιπατοῦντα θεᾶσθαι τὸ γυμνάσιόν τε καὶ πάντα τὰ περίστυλα καίπερ σπανίζοντα παίδων. τίνι δὲ φῂς τοῦτο τὸ διδασκαλεῖον εἶναι ἀνομοῖον τοῖς λοιποῖς;

Socrates
But nevertheless, it is necessary to peek into the school and to walk around it and look at the building and the colonnades, even if it is lacking boys. In what respect do you say that this school is unlike the rest?

Ἀλκιβιάδης
πολλοῖς γε· ἀλλὰ ἕν γε ἀνθ’ ἑνὸς οὐκ ἐλάχιστον ἔγωγε θείην ἂν, ὦ Σώκρατες, τὸ προτιμᾶσθαί τινι ξένῳ ἐξαιρέτῳ.

Alcibiades
In many, but placing one thing against another, I would not regard as the least, O Socrates, the fact that it is honoured with a certain, distinguished visitor.

Σωκράτης
τί δή; ἆρ’ οὐ τοῖς ἄλλοις διδασκαλείοις εἰσὶ καὶ ξένοι οἳ φοιτῶσι παρὰ τούς τε διδασκάλους καὶ μαθητὰς ὥσπερ ὁ Σόλων θεωρίας ἕνεκα;

Socrates
What, then? Surely other schools have visitors who visit the masters and the pupils, just as Solon, for the sake of sightseeing?

Ἀλκιβιάδης
πάνυ μὲν οὖν. καίτοι τοιοῦτοι μὲν ξένοι ἑκόντες ἰδίᾳ παραγίγνεσθαι φιλοῦσιν ὑπὸ περιεργίας, οὗτος δὲ ὁ ξένος νόμῳ τινί.

Alcibiades
Yes, they do. However, such visitors on the one hand are accustomed to visit of their own volition and privately out of curiosity, but this visitor visits by reason of a certain law.

Σωκράτης
τίνι νόμῳ; εἰπέ, σὺ αὐτὸς σύνων ἐκείνοις τοῖς διδασκάλοις πάντα ταῦτα ἤκουσας ἢ πόθεν οἶσθα;

Socrates
What law is that? Tell me, did you hear these things by conversing with those masters or how did you come by this knowledge?

Ἀλκιβιάδης
ἄλλος γάρ τίς μοι διηγεῖτο ἀκηκοὼς τῶν διδασκάλων τε καὶ τῶν ἐκεῖ ἄλλων. ἀεὶ δέ σοι σπουδάζοντι εὑρεῖν ὅποι ἐλθὼν τεύξει τινὸς ὅστις οἷός τ’ ἐστὶ ποιεῖσθαί τινα τῷ βουλομένῳ δίκαιόν τε καὶ διδάσκειν τὴν ἀρετήν, ταῦτα δήπου κατὰ τὸ εἶκος φανήσεται καινά τε καὶ ἀτοπά. τοὺς γὰρ τὸ κατ’ ἀρχὰς διανοῦντας ἔφη ἵδρυσθαι διδασκαλεῖόν τι ὀρέξασθαι πλείονος ἤ τοῦ εἰωθότος. αὐτοὺς οὖν ἐπαιτῆσαί τε καὶ δεηθῆναι τῶν ἐν τέλει σφίσι ἀποδεῖξαι ξένον τινὰ ὃν πρέποι θαμὰ φοιτᾶν εἰς τὸ διδασκαλεῖον ὡς πευσόμενος τὰ πάντα σκοπῶν ὁποίας παιδεύσεως ἐκεῖ τυγχάνουσι οἱ φοιτῶντες.⁹

Alcibiades
Another person told me these things, having heard them from the masters and others there. But to you who are ever zealous about finding where you should go to procure someone who is able to make someone just for anyone who wishes it and to teach him excellence, these things, I suppose, will probably seem extraordinary and strange. For he said that those who first planned to establish some kind of school desired something more than the customary . Therefore, they requested and demanded some visitor whose duty would be frequently to visit the school in order to learn, by examining everything, what kind of education the pupils get there.

Σωκράτης
ἆρα τούτοις τοῖς τάδε διανοῦσι συνέβη τοῦτο τὸ ἆθλον ἀνελέσθαι;

Socrates
And did the originators of these designs manage to carry off this prize?

Ἀλκιβιάδης
μάλιστά γε· καὶ δὴ καὶ οἷον οὐ ᾤοντο ἀνελέσθαι. οὐ πολλοῖς γὰρ, ἔφη, ἔτεσι ὕστερον τοὺς ἐν τέλει θέσθαι νόμον τινὰ ὃς μὲν ἐκέλευσε ξένον τινὰ ἐξαίρετόν τε καὶ περιβλέπτατον φοιτᾶν εἰς τοῦτο τὸ διδασκαλεῖον, ἄλλων δὲ διδασκαλείων οὐδὲν ἐμέλεσεν καὶ τῶν τότε καὶ τῶν μελλόντων ἔσεσθαι.

Alcbiades
Yes, and what is more, a prize of what kind they did not expect to carry off. For not many years later, he said, those who were in government passed a law that ordered a certain illustrious and most distinguished visitor to visit this school and yet there was no concern to the law about other schools, either those at that time or those that would come into existence.

Σωκράτης
τίνα ἄνδρα περιβλεπτότατον ἑλόμενοι ἔπεμψαν ὅς ὁρᾷ οὔκετι, ὡς οἶμαι, τὸ τοῦ ἡλίου φῶς; πῶς γὰρ πολλοῖς ἔτεσιν πρότερον τοῦ πάροντος νῦν χρόνου οὐχ ἱδρύσαντο τὸ διδασκαλεῖόν τε καὶ ἔθεντο ἐκεῖνον τὸ νόμον;

Socrates
Which most illustrious man did they choose and send, who no longer beholds the light of the sun, as I think? For surely it was many years before the present time that they established the school and passed that law?

Ἀλκιβιάδης
πολλοῖς γε, ὦγαθέ· ἀλλ’ οὗτος ὁ νόμος ἐκέλευέ τε καὶ ἔτι κελεύει τὸν ἄρχοντα ὅστις ἄν τῶν ζώντων τυγχάνῃ ὤν ὁ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐπίτροπος ταύτης τῆς πόλεως ὥστε μήποτε τὸ διδασκαλεῖον λελεῖφθαι ξένου.

Alcibiades
Yes, many years indeed, my good fellow. But this law both ordered and still orders the official, whoever of the living happens to be the king’s representative of this city so that never was the school lacking a Visitor.

Σωκράτης
καὶ οὗτος ὁ νῦν ξένος λαπρότατος ἢ ἄλλος ξένος τις τῶν πρόσθεν πότε ἐφοίτησεν εἰς τοῦτο τὸ διδασκαλεῖον, καὶ τί ἐκεῖ εἶδεν καὶ τί συμβέβηκεν ἐκ τοῦ ξενίζεσθαι αὐτὸν πάντα θεασάμενον;

Socrates
And the present, most distinguished Visitor or any other Visitor of past generations, when did he visit this school, and what did he see there, and what resulted from his visiting after he had looked at everything.

Ἀλκιβιάδης
ὅστις ἂν τοιαῦτα εἰδῇ, οἷός τ’ ἐστὶ διειπεῖν αἰνίγματα ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ. ὁποῖος μὲν γὰρ ὁ ξένος ἐστί, ὁπότε ἔρχεται, ὅτι ποιεῖ, τοῦτ’ ἐστὶ ὀλίγων εἰδέναι τοιαῦτα κρυπτά·

Alcibiades
Whoever knows such things is able to interpret riddles, as it seems to me. For of what kind of a man the Visitor is, when he comes, what he does, this belongs to few to know such secret things.

Σωκράτης
οὐδέποτε ἄρα ὁ ξένος ὥσπερ ὁ Λοξίας τι ἔχρησεν, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδεὶς ἀνέγραψέν τι στηλῖτες ὧν εἶπεν ὁ ξένος φοιτήσας τε καὶ πάντα θεασάμενος;

Socrates
Never, then, did the Visitor make a proclamation, as Loxias, or rather, no one wrote down on a stele any of the things that the Visitor said after visiting and inspecting everything?

Ἀλκιβιάδης
οὐ μέντοι μὰ Δία, ὦ μακάριε. οὐδένα γὰρ μὲν ἔφη ποτέ γε ἀκούσαντά τι τοῦ ξένου ἀναγράψαι ἐν στήλῃ ἢ ἐπιστολῇ ἢ συγγράμματι· τὸν δὲ ξένον, εἴ τι καινὸν ἴδοι ἢ καταλάβοι ἐκβαῖνον ἐν τούτῳ τῷ διδασκαλείῳ, οὐκ παρασχεῖν μὲν λόγον ὧν εἶδεν ἢ εὗρεν, φαίνεσθαι δὲ αὐτὰ κρύπτειν.

Alcibiades
No, not at all, by Zeus, my dear fellow. For he said that no one, on the one hand, ever having heard anything from the Visitor wrote it down on a stele or a letter or a treatise; on the other, the Visitor, if ever he saw or found something unheard of occurring in this School, did not provide an account of what he saw or found, but rather he seemed to keep it close to his chest.

Σωκράτης
κρύπτων μὲν οὖν αὐτὰ ἐφαίνετο· ἀλλὰ διὰ τί οἴει τὸν ξένον κρύψαι αὐτά; θαυμαστόν γε τοῦτο.

Socrates
Clearly, he kept it close to his chest. But why do you think the Visitor did this? This is very strange.

Ἀλκιβιάδης
συγχωρῶ.

Alcibiades
I concede that.

Σωκράτης
ὁ ξένος εὐδοκιμεῖ.

Socrates
The Visitor is a distinguished man.

Ἀλκιβιάδης
ἀληθῆ.

Alcibiades
True.

Σωκράτης
καὶ δὴ καὶ εὐδοκιμεῖ ἐπ’ ἀρετῇ ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς πολίταις.

Socrates
And what is more, he is distinguished among all the citizens on account of his excellence.

Ἀλκιβιάδης
πάνυ γε.

Alcibiades
Yes.

Σωκράτης
διὰ γὰρ τὴν ἀρετὴν αὐτοῦ ὁ βασιλεὺς κατέστησε αὐτὸν εἶναι ἐπίτροπον τῆς πόλεως.

Socrates
For it was on account of this excellence that the king appointed him the governor of the city.

Ἀλκιβιάδης
Ἀνάγκη.

Alcibiades
That follows.

Σωκράτης
πῶς οὖν οὐχ ὁ μὲν πρῶτος ξένος ὁ εὐδόκιμος ἐπ’ ἀρετῇ καὶ ἵστωρ ἀρετῆς φοιτήσας εἰς ἐκεῖνο τὸ διδασκαλεῖον καὶ εὑρὼν τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐκεῖ ἐπιτηδὲς ἔκρυψεν αὐτήν ὥσπερ εἴ τις φυλάττων κειμήλιόν τι καταθεῖτο ἐν γῇ, ἑκαστὸς δὲ τῶν ἐπιγενομένων περὶ τούτου ἀεὶ διεμαχέσατο ὅπως μηδεὶς τοῦ λόγου ἔκφορος γενήσεται; φῶμεν ἄρα αὐτοὺς τηρῆσαι τὸν περὶ ἀρετῆς ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ διδασκαλείῳ ἐγγιγνομένης λόγον ἄρρητον;

Socrates
Surely the first Visitor, the one distinguished for his excellence and knowledgeable in excellence, having visited that School and having found excellence there, deliberately hid it like someone who was guarding a treasure would bury it in the ground and each of his successors always strove for this, that no one should divulge this account? Shall we say, then, that they kept the account of the excellence that is produced in that school secret?

Ἀλκιβιάδης
φῶμεν. ἄλλο γὰρ δή τι, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἀδύνατον.

Alcibiades
Let us say that. For anything else, as it seems, is impossible.

Σωκράτης
ἅττα καὶ ὁποῖ’ ἄττα εἶδόν τε ἐκεῖ καὶ εὗρον ἂν ἀπέφηναν.

Socrates
What they saw and found there, and whatever its nature was, they would have revealed it.

Ἀλκιβιάδης
πάνυ γε.

Alcibiades
Very much so.

Σωκράτης
ὑγίαινε οὖν, ὦ Ἀλκιβιάδη. δεῖ γάρ με αὐτὸν φοιτᾶν ξένον τινὰ ὄντα εἰς τὸ διδασκαλεῖον ἵνα τὰ ἄρρητα περὶ ἀρετῆς ἀποκαλύψω.

Socrates
Farewell, then, Alcibiades. For I must go to the school myself as a kind of Visitor in order to uncover the secrets of excellence.

^{1 Cf. C. Turney Grammar.}^{A History of Sydney Grammar School 1819 – 1988}^{North Sydney 1989, 8–9, 37.
2 Cf. Pl.}^Men^{. 70a Prt. 320c, 324c, 326e etc.
3 Cf. Pl.}^Phdr^{. 229a
4 Cf. Thuc. 6.27
5 Eur.}^Med.^{46–7
6 Hom.}^Od.^{17.347
7 Cf. Pl.}^La.^{201a–b
8 Cf. Thuc. 2.54
9 Cf. X.}^Mem^{. 4.4.5}

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