Lesser Hippias | Page 9

most certainly.
SOCRATES: Then they are prudent, I suppose?
HIPPIAS: So they are--very.
SOCRATES: And if they are prudent, do they know or do they not
know what they do?
HIPPIAS: Of course, they know very well; and that is why they do
mischief to others.
SOCRATES: And having this knowledge, are they ignorant, or are they
wise?
HIPPIAS: Wise, certainly; at least, in so far as they can deceive.
SOCRATES: Stop, and let us recall to mind what you are saying; are
you not saying that the false are powerful and prudent and knowing and
wise in those things about which they are false?
HIPPIAS: To be sure.
SOCRATES: And the true differ from the false--the true and the false
are the very opposite of each other?
HIPPIAS: That is my view.
SOCRATES: Then, according to your view, it would seem that the
false are to be ranked in the class of the powerful and wise?
HIPPIAS: Assuredly.
SOCRATES: And when you say that the false are powerful and wise in
so far as they are false, do you mean that they have or have not the
power of uttering their falsehoods if they like?
HIPPIAS: I mean to say that they have the power.
SOCRATES: In a word, then, the false are they who are wise and have
the power to speak falsely?
HIPPIAS: Yes.
SOCRATES: Then a man who has not the power of speaking falsely
and is ignorant cannot be false?

HIPPIAS: You are right.
SOCRATES: And every man has power who does that which he
wishes at the time when he wishes. I am not speaking of any special
case in which he is prevented by disease or something of that sort, but I
am speaking generally, as I might say of you, that you are able to write
my name when you like. Would you not call a man able who could do
that?
HIPPIAS: Yes.
SOCRATES: And tell me, Hippias, are you not a skilful calculator and
arithmetician?
HIPPIAS: Yes, Socrates, assuredly I am.
SOCRATES: And if some one were to ask you what is the sum of 3
multiplied by 700, you would tell him the true answer in a moment, if
you pleased?
HIPPIAS: certainly I should.
SOCRATES: Is not that because you are the wisest and ablest of men
in these matters?
HIPPIAS: Yes.
SOCRATES: And being as you are the wisest and ablest of men in
these matters of calculation, are you not also the best?
HIPPIAS: To be sure, Socrates, I am the best.
SOCRATES: And therefore you would be the most able to tell the truth
about these matters, would you not?
HIPPIAS: Yes, I should.
SOCRATES: And could you speak falsehoods about them equally well?
I must beg, Hippias, that you will answer me with the same frankness
and magnanimity which has hitherto characterized you. If a person
were to ask you what is the sum of 3 multiplied by 700, would not you
be the best and most consistent teller of a falsehood, having always the
power of speaking falsely as you have of speaking truly, about these
same matters, if you wanted to tell a falsehood, and not to answer truly?
Would the ignorant man be better able to tell a falsehood in matters of
calculation than you would be, if you chose? Might he not sometimes
stumble upon the truth, when he wanted to tell a lie, because he did not
know, whereas you who are the wise man, if you wanted to tell a lie
would always and consistently lie?
HIPPIAS: Yes, there you are quite right.

SOCRATES: Does the false man tell lies about other things, but not
about number, or when he is making a calculation?
HIPPIAS: To be sure; he would tell as many lies about number as
about other things.
SOCRATES: Then may we further assume, Hippias, that there are men
who are false about calculation and number?
HIPPIAS: Yes.
SOCRATES: Who can they be? For you have already admitted that he
who is false must have the ability to be false: you said, as you will
remember, that he who is unable to be false will not be false?
HIPPIAS: Yes, I remember; it was so said.
SOCRATES: And were you not yourself just now shown to be best
able to speak falsely about calculation?
HIPPIAS: Yes; that was another thing which was said.
SOCRATES: And are you not likewise said to speak truly about
calculation?
HIPPIAS: Certainly.
SOCRATES: Then the same person is able to speak both falsely and
truly about calculation? And that person is he who is good at
calculation--the arithmetician?
HIPPIAS: Yes.
SOCRATES: Who, then, Hippias, is discovered to be false at
calculation? Is he not the good man? For the good man is the