Soc.
Beautifully answered, Hippias, by the dog, and notably! Then if I give this answer, I shall have answered the question that was asked, and shall have answered it correctly,
288a
and shall never be confuted?
Hipp.
Yes, for how could you, Socrates, be confuted, when you say what everybody thinks, and when all who hear it will bear witness that what you say is correct?
Soc.
Very well; certainly. Come, then, Hippias, let me rehearse to myself what you say. The man will question me in some such fashion as this:
Come Socrates, answer me. All these things which you say are beautiful, if the absolute beautiful is anything, would be beautiful? And I shall say that if a beautiful maiden is beautiful, there is something by reason of which these things would be beautiful.
Hipp.
Do you think, then, that he will still attempt to refute you and to show that what you say is not beautiful, or, if he does attempt it, that he will not be ridiculous?
Soc.
That he will attempt it, my admirable friend, I am sure but whether the attempt will make him ridiculous, the event will show. However, I should like to tell you what he will ask.
Hipp.
Do so.
Soc.
How charming you are, Socrates! he will say.
But is not a beautiful mare beautiful, which even the god praised in his oracle?
1
288c
What shall we say, Hippias? Shall we not say that the mare is beautiful, I mean the beautiful mare? For how could we dare to deny that the beautiful thing is beautiful?
Hipp.
Quite true, Socrates for what the god said is quite correct, too; for very beautiful mares are bred in our country.
Soc.
Very well, he will say,
and how about a beautiful lyre? Is it not beautiful? Shall we agree, Hippias?
Hipp.
Yes.
Soc.
After this, then, the man will ask, I am sure, judging by his character:
You most excellent man, how about a beautiful pot? Is it, then, not beautiful?
Hipp.
Socrates, who is the fellow? What an uncultivated person, who has the face to mention such worthless things in a dignified discussion!
Soc.
That’s the kind of person he is, Hippias, not elegant, but vulgar, thinking of nothing but the truth. But nevertheless the man must be answered, and I will declare my opinion beforehand: if the pot were made by a good potter, were smooth and round and well fired, as are some of the two-handled pots, those that hold six choes,
2
very beautiful ones—
288e
if that were the kind of pot he asked about, we must agree that it is beautiful; for how could we say that being beautiful it is not beautiful?
Hipp.
We could not at all, Socrates.
Soc.
Then, he will say,
a beautiful pot also is beautiful, is it not? Answer.
Hipp.
Well, Socrates, it is like this, I think. This utensil, when well wrought, is beautiful, but absolutely considered it does not deserve to be regarded as beautiful in comparison with a mare and a maiden and all the beautiful things.
Hippias Major. Plato. Harold North Fowler (Translator), ed. Walter Rangeley Maitland Lamb. Cambridge, MA. 1926.
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