The dialogues of Plato in five volumes, Vol. 2 (of 5) : $b Translated into English with analyses and introductions — Plato — John Shaqi
The dialogues of Plato in five volumes, Vol. 2 (of 5) : $b Translated into English with analyses and introductions
Plato · en
_Soc._ I mean to say, that the producers of those things
which the author of the song praises, that is to say, the
physician, the trainer, the money-maker, will at once come
to you, and first the physician will say: ‘O Socrates,
Gorgias is deceiving you, for my art is concerned with the
greatest good of men and not his.’ And when I ask, Who
are you? he will reply, ‘I am a physician.’ What do you
mean? I shall say. Do you mean that your art produces
the greatest good? ‘Certainly,’ he will answer, ‘for is not
health the greatest good? What greater good can men
have, Socrates?’ And after him the trainer will come and
say, ‘I too, Socrates, shall be greatly surprised if Gorgias
can show more good of his art than I can show of mine.’
To him again I shall say, Who are you, honest friend, and
what is your business? ‘I am a trainer,’ he will reply, ‘and
my business is to make men beautiful and strong in body.’
When I have done with the trainer, there arrives the
money-maker, and he, as I expect, will utterly despise them
all. ‘Consider, Socrates,’ he will say, ‘whether Gorgias or
any one else can produce any greater good than wealth.’
Well, you and I say to him, and are you a creator of
wealth? ‘Yes,’ he replies. And who are you? ‘A money-maker.’
And do you consider wealth to be the greatest
good of man? ‘Of course,’ will be his reply. And we
shall rejoin: Yes; but our friend Gorgias contends that his
art produces a greater good than yours. And then he will
be sure to go on and ask, ‘What good? Let Gorgias
answer.’ Now I want you, Gorgias, to imagine that this
question is asked of you by them and by me; What is that
which, as you say, is the greatest good of man, and of which
you are the creator? Answer us.
[Sidenote: Freedom and power, and the word which gives them.]
_Gor._ That good, Socrates, which is truly the greatest,
being that which gives to men freedom in their own persons,
and to individuals the power of ruling over others in their
several states.
_Soc._ And what would you consider this to be?
_Gor._ What is there greater than the word which persuades
the judges in the courts, or the senators in the
council, or the citizens in the assembly, or at any other
political meeting?—if you have the power of uttering this
word, you will have the physician your slave, and the trainer
your slave, and the money-maker of whom you talk will be
found to gather treasures, not for himself, but for you who
are able to speak and to persuade the multitude.