HIPPIAS (major) by Plato - Complete text

Page 12

Soc.: "How charming you are, Socrates !" he will say. "But is not a beautiful mare beautiful, which even the god praised in his oracle?" 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?

Hip.: 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?

Hip.: 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?"

Hip.: 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, very beautiful ones — 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?

Hip.: We could not at all, Socrates.

Soc.: "Then," he will say, "a beautiful pot also is beautiful, is it not?" Answer.

Hip.: 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.

Soc.: Very well I understand, Hippias, that the proper reply to him who asks these questions is this : "Sir, you are not aware that the saying of Heracleitus is good, that ‘the most beautiful of monkeys is ugly compared with the race of man,' and the most beautiful of pots is ugly compared with the race of maidens, as Hippias the wise man says." Is it not so, Hippias?

Hip.: Certainly, Socrates ; you replied rightly.

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Plato : HIPPIAS (major)

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