HIPPIAS (minor) by Plato - Complete text

Page 18

Socr.: Then the mind which involuntarily errs is worse than the mind which errs voluntarily?

Hipp.: Yes, certainly, in the use of the bow.

Socr.: And what would you say of the art of medicine;—has not the mind which voluntarily works harm to the body, more of the healing art?

Hipp.: Yes.

Socr.: Then in the art of medicine the voluntary is better than the involuntary?

Hipp.: Yes.

Socr.: Well, and in lute-playing and in flute-playing, and in all arts and sciences, is not that mind the better which voluntarily does what is evil and dishonourable, and goes wrong, and is not the worse that which does so involuntarily?

Hipp.: That is evident.

Socr.: And what would you say of the characters of slaves? Should we not prefer to have those who voluntarily do wrong and make mistakes, and are they not better in their mistakes than those who commit them involuntarily?

Hipp.: Yes.

Socr.: And should we not desire to have our own minds in the best state possible?

Hipp.: Yes.

Socr.: And will our minds be better if they do wrong and make mistakes voluntarily or involuntarily?

Hipp.: O, Socrates, it would be a monstrous thing to say that those who do wrong voluntarily are better than those who do wrong involuntarily!

Socr.: And yet that appears to be the only inference.

Hipp.: I do not think so.

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Plato : HIPPIAS (minor)

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