gorgias   

myself, are of your way of thinking; but your single assent and

witness are enough for me-I have no need of any other, I take your

suffrage, and am regardless of the rest. Enough of this, and now let

us proceed to the next question; which is, Whether the greatest of

evils to a guilty man is to suffer punishment, as you supposed, or

whether to escape punishment is not a greater evil, as I supposed.

Consider:-You would say that to suffer punishment is another name

for being justly corrected when you do wrong?

Pol. I should.

Soc. And would you not allow that all just things are honourable

in so far as they are just? Please to reflect, and, tell me your

opinion.

Pol. Yes, Socrates, I think that they are.

Soc. Consider again:-Where there is an agent, must there not also be

a patient?

Pol. I should say so.

Soc. And will not the patient suffer that which the agent does,

and will not the suffering have the quality of the action? I mean, for

example, that if a man strikes, there must be something which is

stricken?

Pol. Yes.

Soc. And if the striker strikes violently or quickly, that which

is struck will he struck violently or quickly?

Pol. True.

Soc. And the suffering to him who is stricken is of the same

nature as the act of him who strikes?

Pol. Yes.

Soc. And if a man burns, there is something which is burned?

Pol. Certainly.

Soc. And if he burns in excess or so as to cause pain, the thing

burned will be burned in the same way?

Pol. Truly.