Euthyphro - 1
>1< | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 EUTHYPHRO
by Plato
380 BC
translated by Benjamin Jowett
New York, C. Scribner's Sons, [1871]
PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: SOCRATES; EUTHYPHRO
Scene: The Porch of the King Archon
Euthyphro. Why have you left the Lyceum, Socrates? and what are
you doing in the Porch of the King Archon? Surely you cannot be
concerned in a suit before the King, like myself?
Socrates. Not in a suit, Euthyphro; impeachment is the word which
the Athenians use.
Euth. What! I suppose that some one has been prosecuting you, for
I cannot believe that you are the prosecutor of another.
Soc. Certainly not.
Euth. Then some one else has been prosecuting you?
Soc. Yes.
Euth. And who is he?
Soc. A young man who is little known, Euthyphro; and I hardly know
him: his name is Meletus, and he is of the deme of Pitthis. Perhaps
you may remember his appearance; he has a beak, and long straight
hair, and a beard which is ill grown.
Euth. No, I do not remember him, Socrates. But what is the charge
which he brings against you?
Soc. What is the charge? Well, a very serious charge, which shows
a good deal of character in the young man, and for which he is
certainly not to be despised. He says he knows how the youth are
corrupted and who are their corruptors. I fancy that he must be a wise
man, and seeing that I am the reverse of a wise man, he has found me
out, and is going to accuse me of corrupting his young friends. And of
this our mother the state is to be the judge. Of all our political men
he is the only one who seems to me to begin in the right way, with the
cultivation of virtue in youth; like a good husbandman, he makes the
young shoots his first care, and clears away us who are the destroyers
of them. This is only the first step; he will afterwards attend to the
elder branches; and if he goes on as he has begun, he will be a very
great public benefactor.
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