meno   

so angry with them?

Any. No, indeed, neither I nor any of my belongings has ever had,

nor would I suffer them to have, anything to do with them.

Soc. Then you are entirely unacquainted with them?

Any. And I have no wish to be acquainted.

Soc. Then, my dear friend, how can you know whether a thing is

good or bad of which you are wholly ignorant?

Any. Quite well; I am sure that I know what manner of men these are,

whether I am acquainted with them or not.

Soc. You must be a diviner, Anytus, for I really cannot make out,

judging from your own words, how, if you are not acquainted with them,

you know about them. But I am not enquiring of you who are the

teachers who will corrupt Meno (let them be, if you please, the

Sophists); I only ask you to tell him who there is in this great

city who will teach him how to become eminent in the virtues which I

was just, now describing. He is the friend of your family, and you

will oblige him.

Any. Why do you not tell him yourself?

Soc. I have told him whom I supposed to be the teachers of these

things; but I learn from you that I am utterly at fault, and I dare

say that you are right. And now I wish that you, on your part, would

tell me to whom among the Athenians he should go. Whom would you name?

Any. Why single out individuals? Any Athenian gentleman, taken at

random, if he will mind him, will do far more, good to him than the

Sophists.

Soc. And did those gentlemen grow of themselves; and without

having been taught by any one, were they nevertheless able to teach

others that which they had never learned themselves?

Any. I imagine that they learned of the previous generation of

gentlemen. Have there not been many good men in this city?

Soc. Yes, certainly, Anytus; and many good statesmen also there

always have been and there are still, in the city of Athens. But the