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(3) Euthyphro's
First Definition
5e-6e
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Euthyphro. Piety is doing as I am doing; that is to say, any |
Piety is doing as I am doing; -like Zeus, I am proceeding aginst my
father. |
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prosecuting any one who is guilty of murder, sacrilege, or of |
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similar crime -- whether he be your father or mother, or |
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whoever he may be -- that makes no difference; and not to |
5e |
prosecute them is impiety. And please to consider, Socrates,
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what a notable proof I will give you of the truth of my words, |
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a proof which I have already given to others: -- of the |
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principle, I mean, that the impious, whoever he may be, ought |
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not to go unpunished. For do not men regard Zeus as the
best |
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Cronos Eating his Children
Artist: Ru Dien-Jen
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6a |
and most righteous of the gods? -- and yet they admit that he |
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bound his father (Cronos) because he wickedly devoured his |
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sons, and that he too had punished his own father (Uranus)
for |
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a similar reason, in a nameless manner. And yet when I |
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proceed against my father, they are angry with me. So |
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inconsistent are they in their way of talking when the gods are |
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concerned, and when I am concerned. |
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Socrates. May not this be the reason, Euthyphro,
why I am |
Does Euthyphro believe these amazing stories about the gods? |
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charged with impiety -- that I cannot away with these stories |
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about the gods? and therefore I suppose that people think me |
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wrong. But, as you who are well informed about them approve |
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of them, I cannot do better than assent to your superior |
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wisdom. What else can I say, confessing as I do, that I know |
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nothing about them? Tell me, for the love of Zeus, whether |
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you really believe that they are true. |
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Euth. Yes, Socrates; and things more
wonderful still, of which |
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the world is in ignorance. |
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Soc. And do you really believe that the gods, fought with one |
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another, and had dire quarrels, battles, and the like, as the |
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poets say, and as you may see represented in the works of |
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great artists? The temples are full of them; and notably the |
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robe of Athene, which is carried up to the Acropolis at the |
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great Panathenaea, is embroidered with them. Are all these |
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tales of the gods true, Euthyphro? |
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Euth. Yes, Socrates; and, as I was saying,
I can tell you, if you |
Yes, and things more amazing still. |
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would like to hear them, many other things about the gods |
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which would quite amaze you. |
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Soc. I dare say; and you shall tell me them at some other time |
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when I have leisure. But just at present I would rather hear |
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from you a more precise answer, which you have not as yet |
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given, my friend, to the question, What is "piety"? When |
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asked, you only replied, Doing as you do, charging your |
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father with murder. |
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Euth. And what I said was true, Socrates. |
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Soc. No doubt, Euthyphro; but you would
admit that there are |
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many other pious acts? |
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Euth. There are. |
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Soc. Remember that I did not ask you to give me two or three |
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examples of piety, but to explain the general idea which makes |
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all pious things to be pious. Do you not recollect that there |
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was one idea which made the impious impious, and the pious |
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pious? |
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Euth. I remember. |
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Soc. Tell me what is the nature of this idea, and then I shall |
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have a standard to which I may look, and by which I may |
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measure actions, whether yours or those of any one else, and |
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then I shall be able to say that such and such an action is |
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pious, such another impious. |
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Euth. I will tell you, if you like. |
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Soc. I should very much like. |
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