euthyphro   

defendant?
Euth. I am the pursuer.
Soc. Of whom?
Euth. You will think me mad when I tell you.
Soc. Why, has the fugitive wings?
Euth. Nay, he is not very volatile at his time of life.
Soc. Who is he?
Euth. My father.
Soc. Your father! my good man?
Euth. Yes.
Soc. And of what is he accused?
Euth. Of murder, Socrates.
Soc. By the powers, Euthyphro! how little does the common herd know of
the nature of right and truth. A man must be an extraordinary man, and
have made great strides in wisdom, before he could have seen his way
to bring such an action.
Euth. Indeed, Socrates, he must.
Soc. I suppose that the man whom your father murdered was one of your
relatives-clearly he was; for if he had been a stranger you would
never have thought of prosecuting him.
Euth. I am amused, Socrates, at your making a distinction between one
who is a relation and one who is not a relation; for surely the
pollution is the same in either case, if you knowingly associate with
the murderer when you ought to clear yourself and him by proceeding
against him. The real question is whether the murdered man has been
justly slain. If justly, then your duty is to let the matter alone;
but if unjustly, then even if the murderer lives under the same roof
with you and eats at the same table, proceed against him. Now the man
who is dead was a poor dependent of mine who worked for us as a field
labourer on our farm in Naxos, and one day in a fit of drunken passion
he got into a quarrel with one of our domestic servants and slew him.
My father bound him hand and foot and threw him into a ditch, and then
sent to Athens to ask of a diviner what he should do with him.
Meanwhile he never attended to him and took no care about him, for he
regarded him as a murderer; and thought that no great harm would be
done even if he did die. Now this was just what happened. For such was
the effect of cold and hunger and chains upon him, that before the
messenger returned from the diviner, he was dead. And my father and
family are angry with me for taking the part of the murderer and
prosecuting my father. They say that he did not kill him, and that if
he did, dead man was but a murderer, and I ought not to take any
notice, for that a son is impious who prosecutes a father. Which
shows, Socrates, how little they know what the gods think about piety
and impiety.
Soc. Good heavens, Euthyphro! and is your knowledge of religion and of
things pious and impious so very exact, that, supposing the
circumstances to be as you state them, you are not afraid lest you too
may be doing an impious thing in bringing an action against your
father?
Euth. The best of Euthyphro, and that which distinguishes him,
Socrates, from other men, is his exact knowledge of all such matters.
What should I be good for without it?
Soc. Rare friend! I think that I cannot do better than be your
disciple. Then before the trial with Meletus comes on I shall
challenge him, and say that I have always had a great interest in
religious questions, and now, as he charges me with rash imaginations
and innovations in religion, I have become your disciple. You,
Meletus, as I shall say to him, acknowledge Euthyphro to be a great
theologian, and sound in his opinions; and if you approve of him you
ought to approve of me, and not have me into court; but if you
disapprove, you should begin by indicting him who is my teacher, and
who will be the ruin, not of the young, but of the old; that is to
say, of myself whom he instructs, and of his old father whom he
admonishes and chastises. And if Meletus refuses to listen to me, but