Eryxias | Page 8

of the gymnasium
came to him and begged him to leave because he was teaching the
youths doctrines which were unsuited to them, and therefore bad for
them.
I have told you this because I want you to understand how men are
circumstanced in regard to philosophy. Had Prodicus been present and
said what you have said, the audience would have thought him raving,
and he would have been ejected from the gymnasium. But you have
argued so excellently well that you have not only persuaded your
hearers, but have brought your opponent to an agreement. For just as in
the law courts, if two witnesses testify to the same fact, one of whom
seems to be an honest fellow and the other a rogue, the testimony of the
rogue often has the contrary effect on the judges' minds to what he
intended, while the same evidence if given by the honest man at once
strikes them as perfectly true. And probably the audience have
something of the same feeling about yourself and Prodicus; they think
him a Sophist and a braggart, and regard you as a gentleman of
courtesy and worth. For they do not pay attention to the argument so
much as to the character of the speaker.
But truly, Socrates, said Erasistratus, though you may be joking, Critias
does seem to me to be saying something which is of weight.
SOCRATES: I am in profound earnest, I assure you. But why, as you
have begun your argument so prettily, do you not go on with the rest?
There is still something lacking, now you have agreed that (wealth) is a
good to some and an evil to others. It remains to enquire what
constitutes wealth; for unless you know this, you cannot possibly come

to an understanding as to whether it is a good or an evil. I am ready to
assist you in the enquiry to the utmost of my power: but first let him
who affirms that riches are a good, tell us what, in his opinion, is
wealth.
ERASISTRATUS: Indeed, Socrates, I have no notion about wealth
beyond that which men commonly have. I suppose that wealth is a
quantity of money (compare Arist. Pol.); and this, I imagine, would
also be Critias' definition.
SOCRATES: Then now we have to consider, What is money? Or else
later on we shall be found to differ about the question. For instance, the
Carthaginians use money of this sort. Something which is about the
size of a stater is tied up in a small piece of leather: what it is, no one
knows but the makers. A seal is next set upon the leather, which then
passes into circulation, and he who has the largest number of such
pieces is esteemed the richest and best off. And yet if any one among us
had a mass of such coins he would be no wealthier than if he had so
many pebbles from the mountain. At Lacedaemon, again, they use iron
by weight which has been rendered useless: and he who has the greatest
mass of such iron is thought to be the richest, although elsewhere it has
no value. In Ethiopia engraved stones are employed, of which a
Lacedaemonian could make no use. Once more, among the Nomad
Scythians a man who owned the house of Polytion would not be
thought richer than one who possessed Mount Lycabettus among
ourselves. And clearly those things cannot all be regarded as
possessions; for in some cases the possessors would appear none the
richer thereby: but, as I was saying, some one of them is thought in one
place to be money, and the possessors of it are the wealthy, whereas in
some other place it is not money, and the ownership of it does not
confer wealth; just as the standard of morals varies, and what is
honourable to some men is dishonourable to others. And if we wish to
enquire why a house is valuable to us but not to the Scythians, or why
the Carthaginians value leather which is worthless to us, or the
Lacedaemonians find wealth in iron and we do not, can we not get an
answer in some such way as this: Would an Athenian, who had a
thousand talents weight of the stones which lie about in the Agora and
which we do not employ for any purpose, be thought to be any the
richer?

ERASISTRATUS: He certainly would not appear so to me.
SOCRATES: But if he possessed a thousand talents weight of some
precious stone, we should say that he was very rich?
ERASISTRATUS: Of course.
SOCRATES: The reason is that the one is useless and the other useful?
ERASISTRATUS: Yes.
SOCRATES: And in the same way among the Scythians a house has