Part 161

Socr. Right judgment, therefore, respecting each object has to do with difference.

Theæ. It appears so.

Socr. What then will become of adding logos to correct judgment? For if it means that we should moreover form a judgment of the manner in which any thing differs from others, the injunction will be very ridiculous.

Theæ. How so?

Socr. It bids us add a right judgment of the manner in which things differ from others, when we have a right judgment of the manner in which they differ from others. And thus the turning round of a scytala, or a pestle, or any other proverb of the kind, would be nothing compared with this injunction, though it might more properly be called the advice of a blind man; for to bid us add those things that we already have, in order that we may learn what we already have formed judgments about, seems remarkably suited to one who is utterly blind.

Theæ. Tell me, then, what did you mean by asking me just now?

157. Socr. If, O boy, in bidding us add logos it bids us know, but not form a judgment of the difference, this most beautiful of all the definitions of science would be a delightful thing: for to know, surely, is to acquire science. Is it not?

Theæ. Yes.

Socr. When asked, therefore, as it appears, what science is, he will answer, that it is correct judgment with the science of difference. For, according to him, this will be the addition of logos.

Theæ. It seems so.

Socr. But it is altogether foolish, when we are searching for science, to say that it is correct judgment with science, either of difference or any thing else. Neither perception, therefore, Theætetus, nor true judgment, nor logos united with true judgment, can be science.

Theæ. It seems not.

Socr. Are we, then, still pregnant and in labour, my friend, with reference to science, or have we brought forth every thing?

Theæ. And by Jupiter, with your help, I have said more than I had in myself.

Socr. Does not, then, our midwife’s art pronounce that all these things are empty, and not worth rearing?

Theæ. Assuredly.

158. Socr. If, therefore, after this you should wish to become pregnant with other things, Theætetus, and if you do become so, you will be full of better things by means of the present discussion; but if you should be empty, you will be less troublesome to your companions, and more meek through modesty, in not thinking that you know what you do not know. For thus much only my art is able to accomplish, but nothing more, nor do I know any of the things which others do who are and have been great and wonderful men. But this midwife’s art I and my mother received from the deity; she about women, and I for young and noble men and such as are beautiful. Now, however, I must go to the king’s porch, to answer the indictment which Melitus has preferred against me: to-morrow, Theodorus, let us meet here again.

INTRODUCTION TO THE EUTHYPHRON.

Euthyphron, a person who professes to be thoroughly conversant in the knowledge of divine things, is represented as meeting Socrates at the king’s porch, that is, the entrance of the court in which trials for murder and impiety were carried on. He is surprised at seeing Socrates at such a spot, for he cannot believe that he has a cause pending there. Socrates tells him that he is indicted by one Melitus, a person of no note at Athens, but one who knows how to govern the city rightly, for that he charges Socrates with impiety in introducing new gods and corrupting the youth. Socrates then asks Euthyphron whether he too has a cause in the same court, and is informed that he has indicted his own father for murder, because he had occasioned the death of one of their hired servants, who had himself first slain a slave of Euthyphron’s father, and then been cast bound into a ditch, where he died from hunger and cold. On hearing this, Socrates asks whether he has such a perfect knowledge of holiness and impiety that he is sure he is right in bringing his father to trial; and on Euthyphron’s asserting that he has, Socrates begs that he will accept him for his disciple, in order that he may learn how to clear himself in his own approaching trial, and first of all desires to know what holiness and impiety are. Euthyphron confidently answers that what he is now doing is holy, namely, to prosecute any one who acts unjustly, whoever he may be, but that not to prosecute such an one is impious. Socrates, however, is not satisfied with this answer, for that he did not ask about particular actions, but about holiness in the abstract. “That, then, which is pleasing to the gods is holy,” says Euthyphron. But Socrates shews that different things are pleasing to different gods, so that the same things are both loved and hated by divers of them, whence it follows that the same things are both holy and unholy.

Euthyphron, feeling the force of this objection, next says that the holy is that which all the gods love, and the impious that which they all hate: but here again Socrates shews that this cannot be a correct definition of holiness, for that it is not holy because they love it, but they love it because it is holy. To help him out of his difficulty, Socrates suggests that holiness is a part of justice; to which Euthyphron assents, and adds that it is that part of it which is concerned about our care for the gods. But, asks Socrates, what care for the gods will holiness be? A kind of service paid to them, is the answer. But to what end do our services of the gods avail? Euthyphron evades the question by saying they are many and beautiful; but when further pressed, he says that holiness consists in sacrificing and praying to the gods, wherein, he is led to admit, men beg those things that they need, and sacrifice such things as the gods need, from whence Socrates concludes that holiness is a kind of traffic between gods and men. But it is clear that the gods cannot be benefited by men; therefore, as Euthyphron says, it must be that which is most dear. But this definition of holiness had been already rejected. Socrates, therefore, proposes to renew the enquiry, but Euthyphron, finding himself defeated at all points, suddenly breaks off the discussion, on pretence of business elsewhere.

EUTHYPHRON,

ON HOLINESS.

EUTHYPHRON. SOCRATES.

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Euth. What new thing has happened, Socrates, that you have left your haunts in the Lyceum, and are now waiting about the king’s porch! You surely have not a trial before the king as I have.

Socr. The Athenians, Euthyphron, do not call it a trial, but an indictment.

Euth. What say you! Some one, it seems, has preferred an indictment against you, for I cannot believe that you have indicted any one else.

Socr. Surely not.