Lys. But this is our proper business; and yours as well as ours, for I reckon
you as one of us. Please then to take my place, and find out from Nicias and
Laches what we want to know, for the sake of the youths, and talk and consult
with them: for I am old, and my memory is bad; and I do not remember the
questions which I am going to ask, or the answers to them; and if there is any
interruption I am quite lost. I will therefore beg of you to carry on the
proposed discussion by yourselves; and I will listen, and Melesias and I will
act upon your conclusions.
Soc. Let us, Nicias and Laches, comply with the request of Lysimachus and
Melesias. There will be no harm in asking ourselves the question which was
first proposed to us: "Who have been our own instructors in this sort of
training, and whom have we made better?" But the other mode of carrying on the
enquiry will bring us equally to the same point, and will be more like
proceeding from first principles. For if we knew that the addition of
something would improve some other thing, and were able to make the addition,
then, clearly, we must know how that about which we are advising may be best
and most easily attained. Perhaps you do not understand what I mean. Then let
me make my meaning plainer in this way. Suppose we knew that the addition of
sight makes better the eyes which possess this gift, and also were able to
impart sight to the eyes, then, clearly, we should know the nature of sight,
and should be able to advise how this gift of sight may be best and most
easily attained; but if we knew neither what sight is, nor what hearing is, we
should not be very good medical advisers about the eyes or the ears, or about
the best mode of giving sight and hearing to them.
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