By Socrates
A Millennium Fulcrum Edition [Copyright 1995]
Socrates: Well, here we are at the appointed time, Meno.
Meno: Yes, and it looks like a fine day for it, too.
Socrates: And I see our serving boy is also here.
Boy: Yes, I am, and ready to do your bidding.
Socrates: Wonderful. Now, Meno, I want you to be on your guard,as you were the other day, to insure that I teach nothing to the boy,but rather pull out of his mind the premises which are already there.
Meno: I shall do my best, Socrates.
Socrates: I can ask more of no man, Meno, and I am certain thatyou will do well, and I hope I will give you no call to halt mein my saying if I should say too much, in which you would feel Iwas actually teaching the boy the answer to this riddle.
Meno: No, Socrates, I don't think I will have to call you onanything you might say today, for the most wondrously learned menof the group of Pythagoras have spent many hours, weeks, and evenmonths and years toiling in their manner to arrive at the mysticsolutions to the puzzles formed by the simple squares with whichwe worked the other day. Therefore, I am certain to regain myvirtue, which I lost the other day, when I was so steadfastlyproven by you to be in error in my statement that the root of asquare with an area of two square feet was beyond this boy,who is a fine boy, whom we must make to understand that he shoulddo his best here, and not feel that he has done any wrongness bycausing me to lose my virtue to you the other day.
Socrates: Meno, my friend, it is my opinion, and I hope it willsoon be yours, that your virtue was increased the other day,rather than decreased.
Meno: I fail to see how, when I was humiliated by seeingthis young boy, of modest education, arrive in minutes at thehighest mystic levels of the magic of the Pythagoreans.Most of all when I wagered as many dinners as you could eatat my house that this could not be the case.
Socrates: First, friend Meno, let me assure you that I willpromise never to eat you out of house and home, not that I couldif I tried, for my tastes are simple and your wallet is large.Nevertheless, Meno, my friend, I would hasten to add that I willpromise, if you like, not to ever come to your table uninvited.
As a second reason you and your virtue should feel better afterthe events of the other day, because you were in error before,but are less in error now. And the path to virtue, at least oneaspect of the path to virtue, is in finding and correcting error.
Meno: Socrates, you know you are always welcome at my table,except when I am suffering from my ulcer, which you aggravategreatly, or at times when I am entertaining the highest noblesof the land, and you would appear out of place in your clothing.(Socrates was known for his simple attire, and for wearing hisgarments over and over till they wore out. However, the onlysurviving example of his writing is a laundry list, so we know hekept his clothes clean and somewhat presentable, though simple)
Socrates: I would hope you would have me over because I wasa good influence on your development, than for any other reason.I notice you did not respond to my claim to have increasedyour virtue, through the exorcism of your error.
Meno: Well Socrates, you know that it is not always theeasiest thing to give up one's