Meno, second part | Page 4

warning: you know that the Pythagoreans jealously guard their
secrets with secret meetings, protected by secret handshakes, secret
signs, passwords, and all that, do you not?
Socrates: I have heard as much, friend Meno.
Meno: Then be sure that they will seek revenge upon you for
demystifying the ideas and concepts which they worked so long and

hard and secretly to create and protect; for they are a jealous lot in the
extreme, hiding in mountain caves, which are hardly fit to be called
monasteries by even the most hardened monk.
Socrates: I take your meaning, friend Meno, and thank you for your
consideration, but I think that if I lose, that they will not bother me, and
if I win, it will appear so simple to everyone, that if would be sheerest
folly for anyone to make even the smallest gesture to protect its fallen
mystic secrecy. Besides, I have a citizen's responsibility to Athens and
to all Athenians to do my best to protect them and enlighten them.
Meno: Very well, Socrates. Please do not ever say that I did not try to
warn you, especially after they have nailed you to a cross in a public
place, where anyone and everyone could hear you say that the fault of
this lay in my name.
Socrates: Do not worry, friend Meno, for if I were not to show this
simple feat of logic to you, I should just walk down the street and find
someone else, though not someone whose company and conversation I
should enjoy as much as yours.
Meno: Thank you, friend Socrates.
Socrates: Now, boy, do you remember me, and the squares with which
we worked and played the other day?
Boy: Yes, sir, Socrates.
Socrates: Please, Meno, instruct the boy to merely call me by my name,
as does everyone else. Calling me "sir" merely puts me off my mental
stride, and, besides, it will create a greater distance between me and the
boy.
Meno: You heard what Socrates, said, boy. Can you do it?
Meno: Yes, sir. (Turning to Socrates) You know I like you very much,
and that I call you "sir" not only out of relation of our positions in
society, but also because of my true respect and admiration, especially
after the events of the other day.
Socrates: Yes, boy. And I will try to live up to your expectations.
(Turning to Meno) Would you allow some reward for the boy, as well
as that which is for myself, if he should prove to your satisfaction that
the square root of two is irrational?
Meno: Certainly, Socrates.
Socrates: (taking the boy aside) What would you like the most in the
whole world, boy?

Boy: You mean anything?
Socrates: Well, I can't guarantee to get it for you, but at least I can ask
it, and it shouldn't hurt to ask; and besides, as you should know, it is
very hard to expect someone to give you what you want, if you never
let them know you want it.
Boy: Well, Socrates . . . you know what I would want.
Socrates: Do I?
Boy: Better than I knew the square root of two the other day.
Socrates: You want to be a free man, then, and a citizen.
Boy: (looking down) Yes.
Socrates: Don't look down, then, for that is an admirable desire for one
to have, and speaks highly of him who has it. I will speak to Meno,
while you hold your tongue.
Boy: Yes, Socrates. (bows to kiss his hand, Socrates turns)
Socrates: Friend Meno, how hard do you think it will be for this boy to
prove the irrationality of the square root of two?
Meno: You know that I think it is impossible, Socrates.
Socrates: Well, how long did it take the Pythagoreans?
Meno: I should think it took them years.
Socrates: And how many of them were there?
Meno: Quite a few, though not all worked equally, and some hardly at
all, for they were most interested in triangles of the right and virtuous
variety, and not in squares and their roots.
Socrates: Can you give me an estimate?
Meno: No, I can't say that I can. I am sorry, Socrates.
Socrates: No problem, would you accept five thinkers as an estimate.
Meno: I think that should be fair.
Socrates: And shall we assume they worked for two years, that is the
smallest number which retains the plural, and our assumption was that
they worked for years.
Meno: Two years is indeed acceptable to me, Socrates.
Socrates: Very well then, Meno, it would appear that the Pythagoreans
spent 10 total years of thinking time to solve the riddles of the square
root of two.
Meno: I agree.
Socrates: And would you like to hire the Pythagoreans