Euthyphro | Page 6

the
antithesis of true and false religion, which is carried to a certain extent
only; (3) the defence of Socrates.
The subtle connection with the Apology and the Crito; the holding back
of the conclusion, as in the Charmides, Lysis, Laches, Protagoras, and
other Dialogues; the deep insight into the religious world; the dramatic
power and play of the two characters; the inimitable irony, are reasons
for believing that the Euthyphro is a genuine Platonic writing. The
spirit in which the popular representations of mythology are denounced
recalls Republic II. The virtue of piety has been already mentioned as
one of five in the Protagoras, but is not reckoned among the four
cardinal virtues of Republic IV. The figure of Daedalus has occurred in
the Meno; that of Proteus in the Euthydemus and Io. The kingly science
has already appeared in the Euthydemus, and will reappear in the
Republic and Statesman. But neither from these nor any other
indications of similarity or difference, and still less from arguments
respecting the suitableness of this little work to aid Socrates at the time
of his trial or the reverse, can any evidence of the date be obtained.
EUTHYPHRO
by
Plato

Translated by Benjamin Jowett
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.
EUTHYPHRO: What! I suppose that some one has been prosecuting
you, for I cannot believe that you are the prosecutor of another.
SOCRATES: Certainly not.
EUTHYPHRO: Then some one else has been prosecuting you?
SOCRATES: Yes.
EUTHYPHRO: And who is he?
SOCRATES: 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.
EUTHYPHRO: No, I do not remember him, Socrates. But what is the
charge which he brings against you?
SOCRATES: 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.
EUTHYPHRO: I hope that he may; but I rather fear, Socrates, that the
opposite will turn out to be the truth. My opinion is that in attacking
you he is simply aiming a blow at the foundation of the state. But in
what way does he say that you corrupt the young?
SOCRATES: He brings a wonderful accusation against me, which at
first hearing excites surprise: he says that I am a poet or maker of gods,
and that I invent new gods and deny the existence of old ones; this is
the ground of his indictment.
EUTHYPHRO: I understand, Socrates; he means to attack you about
the familiar sign which occasionally, as you say, comes to you. He
thinks that you are a neologian, and he is going to have you up before
the court for this. He knows that such a charge is readily received by
the world, as I myself know too well; for when I speak in the assembly
about divine things, and foretell the future to them, they laugh at me
and think me a madman. Yet every word that I say is true. But they are
jealous of us all; and we must be brave and go at them.
SOCRATES: Their laughter, friend Euthyphro, is not a matter of much
consequence. For a man may be thought wise; but the Athenians, I
suspect, do not much trouble themselves about him until he begins to
impart his wisdom to others, and then for some reason or other, perhaps,
as you say, from jealousy, they are angry.