Why does he begin with this? "I went down," a going down.

为什么他以此开头 "我往下来到" 往下
The Greek word for this is catabasis.

与此对应的希腊词是"撤退"
"I had made a descent."

"我降了下来"
There is a book by a famous contemporary to Plato.

这儿有一本与柏拉图同时期的著名作者写的书
It's a man named Xenophon, who wrote a book called the Anabasis.

是一个叫色诺芬的人他写了一本叫作《远征记》的书
The anabasis means a going up, an ascent.

进军代表着上升代表着登高
But Plato begins this dialogue with this stigma.

但是柏拉图以此开头
"I went down."

我往下
The descent to the Piraeus.

向下来到比雷埃夫斯
It is clearly modeled on Odysseus' descent to Hades in the Odyssey.

这显然是模仿了《奥德赛》中奥德赛向下到地狱
In fact, the work is a kind of philosophical odyssey

事实上这部著作是一种哲学的《奥德赛》
that both imitates Homer, but also anticipates

既仿效荷马又预先于其他