Euthydemus | Page 5

is ready to fall down and worship them;
although the greatness of their professions does arouse in his mind a
temporary incredulity.
A circle gathers round them, in the midst of which are Socrates, the two
brothers, the youth Cleinias, who is watched by the eager eyes of his
lover Ctesippus, and others. The performance begins; and such a
performance as might well seem to require an invocation of Memory
and the Muses. It is agreed that the brothers shall question Cleinias.
'Cleinias,' says Euthydemus, 'who learn, the wise or the unwise?' 'The
wise,' is the reply; given with blushing and hesitation. 'And yet when
you learned you did not know and were not wise.' Then Dionysodorus
takes up the ball: 'Who are they who learn dictation of the
grammar-master; the wise or the foolish boys?' 'The wise.' 'Then, after
all, the wise learn.' 'And do they learn,' said Euthydemus, 'what they
know or what they do not know?' 'The latter.' 'And dictation is a
dictation of letters?' 'Yes.' 'And you know letters?' 'Yes.' 'Then you
learn what you know.' 'But,' retorts Dionysodorus, 'is not learning
acquiring knowledge?' 'Yes.' 'And you acquire that which you have not
got already?' 'Yes.' 'Then you learn that which you do not know.'
Socrates is afraid that the youth Cleinias may be discouraged at these
repeated overthrows. He therefore explains to him the nature of the
process to which he is being subjected. The two strangers are not
serious; there are jests at the mysteries which precede the enthronement,
and he is being initiated into the mysteries of the sophistical ritual. This
is all a sort of horse-play, which is now ended. The exhortation to
virtue will follow, and Socrates himself (if the wise men will not laugh
at him) is desirous of showing the way in which such an exhortation
should be carried on, according to his own poor notion. He proceeds to
question Cleinias. The result of the investigation may be summed up as
follows:--
All men desire good; and good means the possession of goods, such as

wealth, health, beauty, birth, power, honour; not forgetting the virtues
and wisdom. And yet in this enumeration the greatest good of all is
omitted. What is that? Good fortune. But what need is there of good
fortune when we have wisdom already:--in every art and business are
not the wise also the fortunate? This is admitted. And again, the
possession of goods is not enough; there must also be a right use of
them which can only be given by knowledge: in themselves they are
neither good nor evil-- knowledge and wisdom are the only good, and
ignorance and folly the only evil. The conclusion is that we must get
'wisdom.' But can wisdom be taught? 'Yes,' says Cleinias. The
ingenuousness of the youth delights Socrates, who is at once relieved
from the necessity of discussing one of his great puzzles. 'Since
wisdom is the only good, he must become a philosopher, or lover of
wisdom.' 'That I will,' says Cleinias.
After Socrates has given this specimen of his own mode of instruction,
the two brothers recommence their exhortation to virtue, which is of
quite another sort.
'You want Cleinias to be wise?' 'Yes.' 'And he is not wise yet?' 'No.'
'Then you want him to be what he is not, and not to be what he is?--not
to be--that is, to perish. Pretty lovers and friends you must all be!'
Here Ctesippus, the lover of Cleinias, interposes in great excitement,
thinking that he will teach the two Sophists a lesson of good manners.
But he is quickly entangled in the meshes of their sophistry; and as a
storm seems to be gathering Socrates pacifies him with a joke, and
Ctesippus then says that he is not reviling the two Sophists, he is only
contradicting them. 'But,' says Dionysodorus, 'there is no such thing as
contradiction. When you and I describe the same thing, or you describe
one thing and I describe another, how can there be a contradiction?'
Ctesippus is unable to reply.
Socrates has already heard of the denial of contradiction, and would
like to be informed by the great master of the art, 'What is the meaning
of this paradox? Is there no such thing as error, ignorance, falsehood?
Then what are they professing to teach?' The two Sophists complain
that Socrates is ready to answer what they said a year ago, but is
'non-plussed' at what they are saying now. 'What does the word
"non-plussed" mean?' Socrates is informed, in reply, that words are
lifeless things, and lifeless things have no sense or meaning. Ctesippus

again breaks out, and again has to be pacified by Socrates, who renews
the conversation with Cleinias. The two Sophists are like Proteus in the
variety of