protagoras   

Yes, he said; let that be admitted.

And temperance is good sense?

Yes.

And good sense is good counsel in doing injustice?

Granted.

If they succeed, I said, or if they do not succeed?

If they succeed.

And you would admit the existence of goods?

Yes.

And is the good that which is expedient for man?

Yes, indeed, he said: and there are some things which may be

inexpedient, and yet I call them good.

I thought that Protagoras was getting ruffled and excited; he seemed

to be setting himself in an attitude of war. Seeing this, I minded

my business, and gently said:-

When you say, Protagoras, that things inexpedient are good, do you

mean inexpedient for man only, or inexpedient altogether? and do you

call the latter good?

Certainly not the last, he replied; for I know of many things-meats,

drinks, medicines, and ten thousand other things, which are

inexpedient for man, and some which are expedient; and some which

are neither expedient nor inexpedient for man, but only for horses;

and some for oxen only, and some for dogs; and some for no animals,

but only for trees; and some for the roots of trees and not for

their branches, as for example, manure, which is a good thing when

laid about the roots of a tree, but utterly destructive if thrown upon

the shoots and young branches; or I may instance olive oil, which is

mischievous to all plants, and generally most injurious to the hair of

every animal with the exception of man, but beneficial to human hair

and to the human body generally; and even in this application (so

various and changeable is the nature of the benefit), that which is

the greatest good to the outward parts of a man, is a very great