A History of Greek Philosophy / SOCRATES

Page 14

“Well but,” says Socrates, “suppose a general has to deal with some enemy of his country that has done it great wrong; if he conquer and enslave this enemy, is that wrong?”—“Certainly not.”—“If he carries off the enemy’s goods or cheats him in his strategy, what about these acts?”—“Oh, of course they are quite right. But I thought you were talking about deceiving or ill-treating friends.”—“Then in some cases we shall have to put these very same acts in both columns?”—“I suppose so.”

“Well, now, suppose we confine ourselves to friends. Imagine a general with an army under him discouraged and disorganised. Suppose he tells them that reserves are coming up, and by cheating them into this belief he saves them from their discouragement, and enables them to win a victory. What about this cheating of one’s friends?”—“Why, I suppose we shall have to put this too on the just side.”—“Or suppose a lad needs medicine, but refuses to take it, and his father cheats him into the belief that it is something nice, and getting him to take it, saves his life; what about that cheat?”—“That will have to go to the just side too.”—“Or suppose you find a friend in a desperate frenzy, and steal his sword from him, for fear he should kill himself; what do you say to that theft?”—“That will have to go there too.”—“But I thought you said there must be no cheating of friends?”—“Well, I must take it all back, if you please.”—“Very good. But now there is another point I should like to ask you. Whether do you think the man more unjust who is a voluntary violator of justice, or he who is an involuntary violator of it?”—“Upon my word, Socrates, I no longer have any confidence in my answers. For the whole thing has turned out to be exactly the contrary of what I previously imagined. However, suppose I say that the voluntary deceiver is the more unjust.”—“Do you consider that justice is a matter of knowledge just as much (say) as writing?”—“Yes, I do.”—“Well now, which do you consider the better skilled as a writer, the man who makes a mistake in writing or in reading what is written, because he chooses to do so, or the man who does so because he can’t help it?”—“Oh, the first; because he can put it right whenever he likes.”—“Very well, if a man in the same way breaks the rule of right, knowing what he is doing, while another breaks the same rule because he can’t help it, which by analogy must be the better versed in justice?”—“The first, I suppose.”—“And the man who is better versed in justice must be the juster man?”—“Apparently so; but really, Socrates, I don’t know where I am. I have been flattering myself that I was in possession of a philosophy which could make a good and able man of me. But how great, think you, must now be my disappointment, when I find myself unable to answer the simplest question on the subject?”

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