3.3
For my part, he answered, I should like to have Callias redeem his promise; for he said, you remember, that if we would take dinner with him, he would give us an exhibition of his profundity. Yes, rejoined Callias; and I will do so, if the rest of you will also lay before us any serviceable knowledge that you severally possess. Well, answered Socrates, no one objects to telling what he considers the most valuable knowledge in his possession.
3.4
Very well, then, said Callias, I will now tell you what I take greatest pride in. It is that I believe I have the power to make men better. How? asked Antisthenes. By teaching them some manual trade, or by teaching nobility of character? The latter, if righteousnessThe word δικαιοσύνη, translated here by righteousness, is sometimes well represented by justice or honesty. It is the virtue discussed by Plato in the Republic and by Aristotle in the fifth book of his Ethics. is the same thing as nobility. Certainly it is, replied Antisthenes, and the least debatable kind, too; for though courage and wisdom appear at times to work injury both to one’s friends and to the state, righteousness and unrighteousness never overlap at a single point.
3.5
Well, then, when every one of you has named the benefit he can confer, I will not begrudge describing the art that gives me the success that I speak of. And so, Niceratus, he suggested, it is your turn; tell us what kind of knowledge you take pride in. My father was anxious to see me develop into a good man, said Niceratus, and as a means to this end he compelled me to memorize all of Homer; and so even now I can repeat the whole Iliad and the Odyssey by heart.
