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Surely, Euthydemus, you don’t covet the kind of excellence that makes good statesmen and managers, competent rulers and benefactors of themselves and mankind in general?
Yes, I do, Socrates, answered Euthydemus, that kind of excellence I greatly desire.
Why, cried Socrates, it is the noblest kind of excellence, the greatest of arts that you covet, for it belongs to kings and is dubbed kingly. However, he added, have you reflected whether it be possible to excel in these matters without being a just man?
Yes, certainly; and it is, in fact, impossible to be a good citizen without justice.
Yes, I do, Socrates, answered Euthydemus, that kind of excellence I greatly desire.
Why, cried Socrates, it is the noblest kind of excellence, the greatest of arts that you covet, for it belongs to kings and is dubbed kingly. However, he added, have you reflected whether it be possible to excel in these matters without being a just man?
Yes, certainly; and it is, in fact, impossible to be a good citizen without justice.
Memorabilia. Xenophon. Edgar Carew Marchant (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1923.
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