Com.
I consider just things to be just, and unjust things unjust.
Soc.
And are they so considered among all men elsewhere as they are here?
Com.
Yes.
Soc.
And among the Persians also?
Com.
Among the Persians also.
Soc.
Always, I presume?
Com.
Always.
Soc.
Are things that weigh more considered heavier here, and things that weigh less lighter, or the contrary?
Com.
No, those that weigh more are considered heavier, and those that weigh less lighter.
Soc.
And is it so in
Carthage
also, and in Lycaea?
Com.
Yes.
Soc.
Noble things, it would seem, are everywhere considered noble,
316b
and base things base; not base things noble or noble things base.
Com.
That is so.
Soc.
And thus, as a universal rule, realities, and not unrealities, are accepted as real, both among us and among all other men.
Com.
I agree.
Soc.
Then whoever fails to attain reality, fails to attain accepted law.
Com.
In your present way of putting it, Socrates, the same things appear to be accepted as lawful both by us and by the rest of the world, always:
316c
but when I reflect that we are continually changing our laws in all sorts of ways, I cannot bring myself to assent.
Soc.
Perhaps it is because you do not reflect that when we change our pieces at draughts they are the same pieces. But look at it, as I do, in this way. Have you in your time come across a treatise on healing the sick?
Com.
I have.
Soc.
Then do you know to what art such a treatise belongs?
Com.
I do: medicine.
Soc.
And you give the name of doctors to those who have knowledge of these matters?
Com.
Yes.
Soc.
Then do those who have knowledge accept the same views on the same things, or do they accept different views?
Com.
The same, in my opinion.
Soc.
Do Greeks only accept the same views as Greeks on what they know, or do foreigners also agree on these matters, both among themselves and with Greeks?
Com.
It is quite inevitable, I should say, that those who know should agree in accepting the same views, whether Greeks or foreigners.
Soc.
Well answered. And do they so always?
Com.
Yes, it is so always.
Soc.
And do doctors on their part, in their treatises on health,
316e
write what they accept as real?
Com.
Yes.
Soc.
Then these treatises of the doctors are medical, and medical laws.
Com.
Medical, to be sure.
Soc.
And are agricultural treatises likewise agricultural laws?
Com.
Yes.
Soc.
And whose are the treatises and accepted rules about garden-work?
Com.
Gardeners’.
Soc.
So these are our gardening laws.
Com.
Yes.
Soc.
Of people who know how to control gardens?
Com.
Certainly.
Soc.
And it is the gardeners who know.
Com.
Yes.
Soc.
And whose are the treatises and accepted rules about the confection of tasty dishes?
Com.
Cooks’.
Soc.
Then there are laws of cookery?
Com.
Of cookery.
Minos. Plato. Walter Rangeley Maitland Lamb (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1927.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.