Euthydemus | Page 6

their transformations, and he, like Menelaus in the Odyssey,
hopes to restore them to their natural form.
He had arrived at the conclusion that Cleinias must become a
philosopher. And philosophy is the possession of knowledge; and
knowledge must be of a kind which is profitable and may be used.
What knowledge is there which has such a nature? Not the knowledge
which is required in any particular art; nor again the art of the composer
of speeches, who knows how to write them, but cannot speak them,
although he too must be admitted to be a kind of enchanter of wild
animals. Neither is the knowledge which we are seeking the knowledge
of the general. For the general makes over his prey to the statesman, as
the huntsman does to the cook, or the taker of quails to the keeper of
quails; he has not the use of that which he acquires. The two enquirers,
Cleinias and Socrates, are described as wandering about in a wilderness,
vainly searching after the art of life and happiness. At last they fix upon
the kingly art, as having the desired sort of knowledge. But the kingly
art only gives men those goods which are neither good nor evil: and if
we say further that it makes us wise, in what does it make us wise? Not
in special arts, such as cobbling or carpentering, but only in itself: or
say again that it makes us good, there is no answer to the question,
'good in what?' At length in despair Cleinias and Socrates turn to the
'Dioscuri' and request their aid.
Euthydemus argues that Socrates knows something; and as he cannot
know and not know, he cannot know some things and not know others,
and therefore he knows all things: he and Dionysodorus and all other
men know all things. 'Do they know shoemaking, etc?' 'Yes.' The
sceptical Ctesippus would like to have some evidence of this
extraordinary statement: he will believe if Euthydemus will tell him
how many teeth Dionysodorus has, and if Dionysodorus will give him a
like piece of information about Euthydemus. Even Socrates is
incredulous, and indulges in a little raillery at the expense of the
brothers. But he restrains himself, remembering that if the men who are
to be his teachers think him stupid they will take no pains with him.
Another fallacy is produced which turns on the absoluteness of the verb
'to know.' And here Dionysodorus is caught 'napping,' and is induced

by Socrates to confess that 'he does not know the good to be unjust.'
Socrates appeals to his brother Euthydemus; at the same time he
acknowledges that he cannot, like Heracles, fight against a Hydra, and
even Heracles, on the approach of a second monster, called upon his
nephew Iolaus to help. Dionysodorus rejoins that Iolaus was no more
the nephew of Heracles than of Socrates. For a nephew is a nephew,
and a brother is a brother, and a father is a father, not of one man only,
but of all; nor of men only, but of dogs and sea-monsters. Ctesippus
makes merry with the consequences which follow: 'Much good has
your father got out of the wisdom of his puppies.'
'But,' says Euthydemus, unabashed, 'nobody wants much good.'
Medicine is a good, arms are a good, money is a good, and yet there
may be too much of them in wrong places. 'No,' says Ctesippus, 'there
cannot be too much gold.' And would you be happy if you had three
talents of gold in your belly, a talent in your pate, and a stater in either
eye?' Ctesippus, imitating the new wisdom, replies, 'And do not the
Scythians reckon those to be the happiest of men who have their skulls
gilded and see the inside of them?' 'Do you see,' retorts Euthydemus,
'what has the quality of vision or what has not the quality of vision?'
'What has the quality of vision.' 'And you see our garments?' 'Yes.'
'Then our garments have the quality of vision.' A similar play of words
follows, which is successfully retorted by Ctesippus, to the great
delight of Cleinias, who is rebuked by Socrates for laughing at such
solemn and beautiful things.
'But are there any beautiful things? And if there are such, are they the
same or not the same as absolute beauty?' Socrates replies that they are
not the same, but each of them has some beauty present with it. 'And
are you an ox because you have an ox present with you?' After a few
more amphiboliae, in which Socrates, like Ctesippus, in self-defence
borrows the weapons of the brothers, they both confess that the two
heroes are invincible; and the scene concludes with a grand chorus of
shouting and laughing, and a panegyrical