Plato

“ It is ridiculous, Socrates, if you think it makes any difference whether he who is slain is a stranger or a relation, and are not persuaded that this alone ought to be attended to, whether he who committed the murder did it justly or not ”

“ It does not appear to me, that wherever there is fear, there also there is shame. For there are many, as it seems to me, who fear diseases, poverty, and many other things of this kind, but who by no means are ashamed of these things which they fear. ”

“ The things which you have asserted, O Euthyphro, appear to be the offspring of our progenitor Daedalus [6] . And if I indeed had said and adopted these things, perhaps you would have derided me, as if my works also, which consist in discourse, through my alliance with him, privately escaped, and were unwilling to remain where they were placed. But now (for they are your hypotheses) the raillery of some other person is necessary. For they are unwilling to abide with you, as it also appears to you yourself. ”

“ Come, then, my dear Euthyphro, teach me also that I may become more wise, what proof you have that all the gods think that he unjustly died, who having slain his fellow-servant, and being put in chains by the matter of the deceased, perished before he that bound him received the answer from the interpreters, which was to inform him how he ought to ask ; and that, on account of such a man, it is right for a son to prosecute his father and accuse him of murder. ”

“ But, my dear Euthyphro, if that which is dear to divinity were the same with that which is holy, if holiness were beloved through its being holiness, that also which is dear to divinity would be beloved through its being dear to divinity. But if that which is dear to divinity were dear to divinity through being beloved by the gods, that which is holy would also be holy through being beloved. ”

“ For it is right to pay attention to youth, in the first place, that they may become the most excellent characters : just as it is reasonable that a good husbandman should first take care of the young plants, and after this of the others. Thus also Melitus perhaps will first cut us up who corrupt the blossoms of youth, as he says, and afterwards he will certainly pay attention to those of a more advanced age, and thus will be the cause of the most numerous and the greatest goods to the city. ”

“ For perhaps you exhibit yourself but rarely, and are not willing to teach your wisdom; but I fear lest, through philanthropy, I should appear to disclose, with too much freedom, to every man whatever I possess, not only without taking a reward, but even willingly adding one, if any person is willing to hear me. ”

“ But I think, Socrates, that no one of the gods will differ from another in this affair, and assert that it is not proper for him to suffer punishment who has unjustly slain any one.
Soc. But what? Have you ever heard any man doubting, O Euthyphro, whether he who has unjustly slain another, or has done any thing else unjustly, ought to be punished ?
Euth. They never cease doubting about these things, both elsewhere and in courts of justice. For those that act unjustly in a very great degree, say and do every thing in order to escape punishment. ”

“ For he knows, as he says, how the youth are corrupted, and who they are that corrupt them. And he appears to be a certain wise man; and seeing my ignorance, and considering me as one who corrupts his equals in age, to have accused me to the city, as to a mother. ”

“ For it would not be conformable to art to bestow upon any one those things of which he is not in want.
Euth. You say true, Socrates.
Soc. Holiness, therefore, O Euthyphro, will be a certain mercantile art between gods and men.
Euth. Let it be mercantile, if it pleases you so to call it.
Soc. But it is not pleasing to me unless it be true. Tell me therefore what advantage the gods derive from the gifts which they receive from us ? For the advantage arising from their gifts is evident to every one ; since we have not any good which they do not impart. ”

“ For indeed they ridicule me as one insane, when I say any thing in a public assembly concerning the gods, and predict to them future events ; though I do not predict to them any thing which is not true. At the same time, however, they envy all such as we are. But indeed it is not fit to pay any attention to them ; but we should still go on in our own way.
Soc. But, dear Euthyphro, to be ridiculed is perhaps a trifling thing. For the Athenians, as it appears to me, are not very much concerned whether or not a man is skilful in any thing, so long as he is not a teacher of his wisdom ”

“ For they say it is impious for a son to prosecute his father for murder ; so little do they know the manner in which a divine nature is affected about piety and impiety.
Soc. But, by Jupiter, Euthyphro, do you think you possess such an accurate knowledge about divine affairs, and how things holy and impious are circumstanced, that these things having taken place as you say, you are not afraid, left in prosecuting your father you should commit an impious action ? ”

“ Hence, though he does not admit this mode of mythologizing, yet, as is evident from what he says in the Timaeus, bethinks we ought to be persuaded by those antients who were the offspring of the gods, and to investigate their occult conceptions. Hence too, though he rejects the Saturnian bonds, and the castrations of Heaven, when discouraging with Euthyphro and the auditors of his Republic, yet in his Cratylus, when he investigates names philosophically, he admits other secondary bonds about the mighty Saturn and Pluto. ”

“ For the one, viz. what is dear to the gods because it is beloved, is a thing of that kind that it may be beloved ; but the other, viz. holiness, because it is a thing which may be beloved, on this account is beloved. And you appear, O Euthyphro, when you was asked what holiness is, to have been unwilling to manifest the essence of it to me, but to have mentioned a certain affection pertaining to it, which this same thing holiness suffers, viz. the being beloved by all the gods ”

“ For, in reality, he appears to me, by trying to injure you, to begin to hurt the city from the Vestal hearth [2] itself. But tell me by what part of your conduct it is that he says you corrupt the youth ?
Soc. The things of which he accuses me, O wonderful man, must be considered, when they are heard, as absurd. For he says that I am a maker of gods ; and, as if I introduced new and did not believe in the ancient gods, has brought this accusation against me.
Euth. I understand you, Socrates ; it is because you say that a demoniacal [3] power is every where present with you. ”

“ For see, Socrates, what a great proof I will give you in law that it is so, and which I have also mentioned to others, viz. that it is right not to spare an impious man, whoever he may be. For men are firmly persuaded that Jupiter is the best and most just of gods, and yet they acknowledge that he put his father in chains, because he unjustly swallowed his children ; and again, that Saturn castrated [4] his father, through other things of a similar nature : but they are indignant with me, because I prosecute my father who has acted unjustly ”

“ See then what follows : for, if the holy is a part of the just, it is necessary, as it seems, that we should discover what part of the just the holy will be. If therefore you should ask me some of the things just now mentioned, as, for instance, what part of number the even is, and what number it is, I should say that it is not scalene, but isosceles [8] . ”

“ Will not, therefore, the very same things happen to the gods if they oppose each other concerning things just and unjust, according to your assertion ; and will not some of them say, that they act unjustly by each other, and others again deny this. Since, O wonderful man, no one, either of gods or men, dares to assert that punishment ought not to be inflicted on him who acts unjustly. ”

“ For you certainly do not say that such as is the culture about other things, such also is that which pertains to the gods. For instance, we say not every one knows the culture of horses, but he who is skilled in equestrian affairs. ”

“ But those who are dubious, as well gods as men, will be dubious respecting each of the transactions ; if the gods disagree about any action, and some of them say that it is done justly, but others unjustly. ”

“ But I will endeavour to speak more clearly. We say that a thing may be carried, and that a thing carries ; that a thing may be led, and that a thing leads ; that a thing may be seen, and that a thing sees ”