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which he himself excelled?

Any. Indeed, indeed, I think not.

Soc. Here was a teacher of virtue whom you admit to be among the

best men of the past. Let us take another,-Aristides, the son of

Lysimachus: would you not acknowledge that he was a good man?

Any. To be sure I should.

Soc. And did not he train his son Lysimachus better than any other

Athenian in all that could be done for him by the help of masters? But

what has been the result? Is he a bit better than any other mortal? He

is an acquaintance of yours, and you see what he is like. There is

Pericles, again, magnificent in his wisdom; and he, as you are

aware, had two sons, Paralus and Xanthippus.

Any. I know.

Soc. And you know, also, that he taught them to be unrivalled

horsemen, and had them trained in music and gymnastics and all sorts

of arts-in these respects they were on a level with the best-and had

he no wish to make good men of them? Nay, he must have wished it.

But virtue, as I suspect, could not be taught. And that you may not

suppose the incompetent teachers to be only the meaner sort of

Athenians and few in number, remember again that Thucydides had two

sons, Melesias and Stephanus, whom, besides giving them a good

education in other things, he trained in wrestling, and they were

the best wrestlers in Athens: one of them he committed to the care

of Xanthias, and the other of Eudorus, who had the reputation of being

the most celebrated wrestlers of that day. Do you remember them?

Any. I have heard of them.

Soc. Now, can there be a doubt that Thucydides, whose children

were taught things for which he had to spend money, would have

taught them to be good men, which would have cost him nothing, if

virtue could have been taught? Will you reply that he was a mean

man, and had not many friends among the Athenians and allies? Nay, but

he was of a great family, and a man of influence at Athens and in