Socrates: I take your meaning, friend Meno, and thank you for your consideration, but I think that if I lose, that they will not bother me, and if I win, it will appear so simple to everyone, that if would be sheerest folly for anyone to make even the smallest gesture to protect its fallen mystic secrecy. Besides, I have a citizen's responsibility to Athens and to all Athenians to do my best to protect them and enlighten them. Meno: Very well, Socrates. Please do not ever say that I did not try to warn you, especially after they have nailed you to a cross in a public place, where anyone and everyone could hear you say that the fault of this lay in my name. Socrates: Do not worry, friend Meno, for if I were not to show this simple feat of logic to you, I should just walk down the street and find someone else, though not someone whose company and conversation I should enjoy as much as yours. Meno: Thank you, friend Socrates. Socrates: Now, boy, do you remember me, and the squares with which we worked and played the other day? Boy: Yes, sir, Socrates. Socrates: Please, Meno, instruct the boy to merely call me by my name, as does everyone else. Calling me "sir" merely puts me off my mental stride, and, besides, it will create a greater distance between me and the boy. Meno: You heard what Socrates, said, boy. Can you do it? Boy: Yes, sir. (Turning to Socrates) You know I like you very much, and that I call you "sir" not only out of relation of our positions in society, but also because of my true respect and admiration, especially after the events of the other day. Socrates: Yes, boy. And I will try to live up to your expectations. (Turning to Meno) Would you allow some reward for the boy, as well as that which is for myself, if he should prove to your satisfaction that the square root of two is irrational? Meno: Certainly, Socrates. Socrates: (taking the boy aside) What would you like the most in the whole world, boy? Boy: You mean anything? Socrates: Well, I can't guarantee to get it for you, but at least I can ask it, and it shouldn't hurt to ask; and besides, as you should know, it is very hard to expect someone to give you what you want, if you never let them know you want it. Boy: Well, Socrates... you know what I would want. Socrates: Do I? Boy: Better than I knew the square root of two the other day. Socrates: You want to be a free man, then, and a citizen. Boy: (looking down) Yes. Socrates: Don't look down, then, for that is an admirable desire for one to have, and speaks highly of him who has it. I will speak to Meno, while you hold your tongue. Boy: Yes, Socrates. (bows to kiss his hand, Socrates turns) Socrates: Friend Meno, how hard do you think it will be for this boy to prove the irrationality of the square root of two? Meno: You know that I think it is impossible, Socrates. Socrates: Well, how long did it take the Pythagoreans? Meno: I should think it took them years.