Plato, Minos, ed. John Burnet, 313

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

[313] 313 313a

ΣΩ.

ὁ νόμος ἡμῖν τί ἐστιν;

ΕΤ.

ὁποῖον καὶ ἐρωτᾷς τῶν νόμων;

ΣΩ.

τί δʼ; ἔστιν ὅτι διαφέρει νόμος νόμου κατʼ αὐτὸ τοῦτο, κατὰ τὸ νόμος εἶναι; σκόπει γὰρ δὴ ὃ τυγχάνω ἐρωτῶν σε. ἐρωτῶ γάρ, ὥσπερ εἰ ἀνηρόμην τί ἐστιν χρυσός, εἴ με ὡσαύτως ἀνήρου ὁποῖον καὶ λέγω χρυσόν, οἴομαί σε οὐκ ἂν ὀρθῶς ἐρέσθαι. οὐδὲν γάρ που διαφέρει οὔτε χρυσὸς 313b χρυσοῦ οὔτε λίθος λίθου κατά γε τὸ λίθος εἶναι καὶ κατὰ τὸ χρυσός· οὕτω δὲ οὐδὲ νόμος που νόμου οὐδὲν διαφέρει, ἀλλὰ πάντες εἰσὶν ταὐτόν. νόμος γὰρ ἕκαστος αὐτῶν ἐστιν ὁμοίως, οὐχ ὁ μὲν μᾶλλον, ὁ δʼ ἧττον· τοῦτο δὴ αὐτὸ ἐρωτῶ, τὸ πᾶν τί ἐστιν νόμος. εἰ οὖν σοι πρόχειρον, εἰπέ.

ΕΤ.

τί οὖν ἄλλο νόμος εἴη ἄν, ὦ Σώκρατες, ἀλλʼ ἢ τὰ νομιζόμενα;

ΣΩ.

ἦ καὶ λόγος σοι δοκεῖ εἶναι τὰ λεγόμενα, ἢ ὄψις τὰ ὁρώμενα, ἢ ἀκοὴ τὰ ἀκουόμενα; ἢ ἄλλο μὲν λόγος, ἄλλο 313c δὲ τὰ λεγόμενα· καὶ ἄλλο μὲν ὄψις, ἄλλο δὲ τὰ ὁρώμενα· καὶ ἄλλο μὲν ἀκοή, ἄλλο δὲ τὰ ἀκουόμενα, καὶ ἄλλο δὴ νόμος, ἄλλο δὲ τὰ νομιζόμενα; οὕτως ἢ πῶς σοι δοκεῖ;

ΕΤ.

ἄλλο μοι νῦν ἐφάνη.

ΣΩ.

οὐκ ἄρα νόμος ἐστὶν τὰ νομιζόμενα.

ΕΤ.

οὔ μοι δοκεῖ.

Minos. Plato. ed. John Burnet. Oxford. 1915.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Μίνως (Greek) (Platonis Opera, Tomus V: Tetralogia VIII. Burnet, John, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1914.)

Translations (1)

Minos Perseus (Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 12. Lamb. W.R.M., translator. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1927 (printing).) — 313 focus

313a

Soc.

Tell me, what is law?

Com.

To what kind of law does your question refer?

Soc.

What! Is there any difference between law and law, in this particular point of being law? For just consider what is the actual question I am putting to you. It is as though I had asked, what is gold: if you had asked me in the same manner, to what kind of gold I refer, I think your question would have been incorrect. For I presume there is no difference between gold and gold, 313b or between stone and stone, in point of being gold or stone; and so neither does law differ at all from law, I suppose, but they are all the same thing. For each of them is law alike, not one more so, and another less. That is the particular point of my question—what is law as a whole? So if you are ready, tell me.

Com.

Well, what else should law be, Socrates, but things loyally accepted? ¹

Soc.

And so speech, you think, is the things that are spoken, or sight the things seen, or hearing the things heard? Or is speech 313c something distinct from the things spoken, sight something distinct from the things seen, and hearing something distinct from the things heard; and so law is something distinct from things loyally accepted? Is this so, or what is your view?

Com.

I find it now to be something distinct.

Soc.

Then law is not things loyally accepted.

Com.

I think not.

Plato Minos 313

ed. John Burnet

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

ΣΩ.

ΕΤ.

ΣΩ.

ΕΤ.

ΣΩ.

ΕΤ.

ΣΩ.

ΕΤ.

Current edition Perseus

Soc.

Com.

Soc.

Com.

Soc.

Com.

Soc.

Com.

Stable identifiers