231
Fr. No, indeed.
231
Soc. Do you mean, not if it is evil? Or will one acquire no gain even if one acquires something good?
231
Fr. Apparently one will, if it is good.
231
Soc. And if it is evil, will not one acquire loss?
231
Fr. I think so.
231
Soc. You see, then, how you are running round again to the same old point? Gain is found to be good, and loss evil.
231
Fr. For my part, I cannot tell what to say.
231
Soc. And not without good reason, sir. Now answer this further question: you say that if one acquires more than the amount one has spent, it is gain?
231
Fr. I do not mean, when it is evil, but if one gets more gold or silver than one has spent.
231
Soc. Now, I am just going to ask you about that. Tell me, if one spends half a pound of gold and gets double that weight in silver, has one got gain or loss?
231
Fr. Loss, I presume, Socrates for one’s gold is reduced to twice, instead of twelve times, the value of silver.
231
Soc. But you see, one has got more; or is double not more than half?
231
Fr. Not in worth, the one being silver and the other gold.
231
Soc. So gain, it seems, must have this addition of worth. At least, you now say that silver, though more than gold, is not worth as much, and that gold, though less, is of equal worth.
231
Fr. Assuredly, for that is the case.
231
Soc. Then the valuable is what produces gain, whether it be small or great, and the valueless produces no gain.
231
Fr. Yes.
231
Soc. And by the valuable you mean simply, valuable to possess?
231
Fr. Yes, to possess.
231
Soc. And again, by what is valuable to possess, do you mean the unprofitable or the profitable?
231
Fr. The profitable, I presume.
231
Soc. And the profitable is good?
231
Fr. Yes.
232
Soc. And so, most valiant of men, have we not here once more, for the third or fourth time, the admission that what produces gain is good?
232
Fr. So it seems.
232
Soc. Then do you remember the point from which this discussion of ours arose?
232
Fr. I think I do.
