Skip to main content

← The Chariot Allegory

Phaedrus 246a–247b: The Soul as a Charioteer With Two Winged Horses

This page gives the passage itself, so a reader can see what Plato wrote before seeing how this investigation uses it.

Where it is​

The Phaedrus is a dialogue in which Socrates talks with a young man named Phaedrus outside the walls of Athens. Midway through, Socrates says he cannot describe the soul directly, but he can describe it "in a figure." The numbers 246a and 247b are Stephanus page numbers, the same in every edition. Free text: Jowett translation, Project Gutenberg; Greek and the 1925 Fowler translation: Perseus, 246a.

The passage (246a–b)​

"And let the figure be composite—a pair of winged horses and a charioteer. Now the winged horses and the charioteers of the gods are all of them noble and of noble descent, but those of other races are mixed; the human charioteer drives his in a pair; and one of them is noble and of noble breed, and the other is ignoble and of ignoble breed; and the driving of them of necessity gives a great deal of trouble to him." — Plato, Phaedrus 246a–b, trans. Jowett

A few lines later (247b), the gods' chariots move smoothly, "but the others labour, for the vicious steed goes heavily, weighing down the charioteer to the earth when his steed has not been thoroughly trained."

What it says, in plain words​

  • Every human soul is a driver with two horses.
  • One horse is noble; one is not.
  • Driving them "of necessity gives a great deal of trouble." Plato does not say good people have no bad horse. He says everyone has both, and steering is work.
  • When the bad horse is untrained, it pulls the whole chariot down to earth.

Why a parent in 2026 should read it​

The image does not divide parents into good ones and bad ones. It says every parent will feel two pulls when a war asks for their child: the pull to look away and stay comfortable, and the pull of honor and loyalty. The question is whether the driver, reason, has read enough to steer. An independent X user quoted the same Jowett translation in 2024, confirming the text (Tomer Solomon, 27 August 2024).

Next: Phaedrus 253–254: The Two Horses Described

Sources​

Status: Plato: Deceased (c. 348 BC).

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

Last updated on