Persons of the Dialogue:
Socrates, Euthyphro,
Crito (old friend of Socrates),
Plato(student Socrates),
Xanthippe(wife of Socrates)
Scene: Evening. Backyard in Socrates house. Socrates, Crito and Plato are talking about Socrates morning visit to Archon Basileus regarding Miletus accusations.
(Euthyphro enters the backyard.)
Euthyphro: Hi, Socrates, I am sorry for being so late, Xanthippe let me in.
Socrates: How are you, my friend? What brings you here?
Euthyphro: I am in trouble, Socrates. Remember our talk this morning?
Socrates: I may be old, but Mnemosyne is kind to me. So I do remember. What happens to you?
Euthyphro: Archon Basileus submitted my claim against my father to trial.
Socrates: I thought that’s what you wanted, isn’t it?
Euthyphro: No. I wanted exactly the opposite. I was expecting that Basileus would dismiss my accusations and I will feel myself pious by reporting the murder to higher authority and fulfilling my duty. But now I’ll have to go to the trial against my father and prosecute him.
Socrates: By the Dog of Egypt, Aren’t you a smart pants? But why do you come to me?
Euthyphro: After our morning discussions I am not any more sure that my action is pious. I came to you that you can teach me.
Socrates: Right… That you will feel better about yourself when going against your father? I better eat you for breakfast. Besides, I don’t know what pious is. I thought you are an expert.
Euthyphro: I am, but it’s avoiding me. Can you at least help me to investigate? I made a misleading statement in our earlier discussion.
Crito: Socrates, why are you listening to this man? Send him away. He is a dishonorable young brat and he does not deserve your attention.
Socrates: You see, Crito, may be he is. But isn’t it my mission try to make people better? I don’t have much time left in this life, so let me try.
Crito: Do as you please.
Socrates: Well, my young friend, I’ll help you to investigate, but do not expect answers on all your questions to avoid your moral dilemma. What do you like to change in your statements?
Euthyphro: Remember Socrates you asked me a question about definition of piety(? Is it pious because Gods love it, or Gods love it because it is pious? (Plat. Euthyph. 10a)
Socrates: Yes, my friend. I remember. I already told you that Mnemosyne is my friend, but I start guessing that she is not very kind to you. Your answer was that Gods love pious because it is pious.
Euthyphro: That’s right. And that’s what I want to change. You have shown me that it is contradictory answer.
Socrates: Well, it is not exactly contradictory, it just not lead you to the definition of piety. How you want to change it?
Euthyphro: I want to say that pious is something that Gods love.
Socrates: Well, my young friend. Let us see where it leads us?
Socrates: What do you see around you?
Euthyphro: It is your backyard.
Socrates: What else?
Euthyphro: Marble statues of Gods.
Socrates: Do you like this one? It’s Aphrodite Urania.
Euthyphro: It’s beautiful. Who made it?
Socrates: My father. Sophroniscus. He took his chisel and a stone and made this statue. He was a great sculptor. Can you hold a hummer?
Euthyphro: Sure, if it is not very heavy.
Socrates: It’s not heavy, don’t worry. Can you hold a chisel?
Euthyphro: I sure can.
Socrates: Well then. So, you can be a sculptor and a carve a stone. But can you make such a beauty?
Euthyphro: Of course not. You are kidding me, Socrates?
Socrates: Not at all. Why you cannot make a beautiful statue?
Euthyphro: Because I don’t have skills, training, knowledge and an eye for an art.
Socrates: And my father had all of these things and something else. So would you agree that he has something that you don’t to make a beauty?
Euthyphro: Yes, Socrates. It is obvious.
Socrates: I am glad. So my question is: What Gods have what their love make things pious? And what humans do not have in that regard?
Euthyphro: I am not quite follow.
Socrates: Let me be more clear. How we call people who love food and eat too much?
Euthyphro: gourmands.
Socrates: And we call this behavior gluttony. Is it pious?
Euthyphro: Not at all. It’s disgusting.
Socrates: So, what we can state: If goods love something it is pious according to you. If people love something it is not necessarily pious. So, Gods have something what we don’t. Like skills of my father. Do you follow me now?
Euthyphro: Yes. It is very well said, Socrates.
Socrates: Please, do not imitate Crito in his answers. He may get angry and we don’t want that. Answer me then, what qualities Gods have that their love makes things pious?
Euthyphro: Well, they made us. They like fathers to us.
Plato: It is funny to hear from a man who are about to prosecute his own father…
Euthyphro: Upsss. I mean power. They have powers.
Socrates: They do. Over Humans and Nature. As great poet once said: “I know how father Zeus sends waves of ruin breaking down our lines, victory goes to Troy”. But don’t you remember, that four years ago, during the government of thirty tyrants, the leader of them, Critias, killed several thousands of good Athenians? The rest was hiding or in exile. He seems to like it. Did he has power then?
Euthyphro: He had a lots of power upon human lives . And, finally, he’s got what he deserved.
Socrates: But my question is: If he has powers, were his desires pious?
Euthyphro: How you can say that, Socrates? He was the most hated man in Athens.
Socrates: Not according to your definition of piety. He has powers and, as you stated above, that he has everything what he needed to make pious things by his love. May be you choose the wrong attribute – power? You can choose another one.
Euthyphro: Wait a second. It is a trick question. As soon as I choose any known Gods’ attribute you will give me a contra example. But I cannot give you a divine attribute which is not known to people. I cannot say what I don’t know.
Socrates: Crito, you see. He start thinking faster. And what’s your dilemma is telling you, Euthyphro?
Euthyphro: That I don’t know what pious is.
Socrates: Well, that was already obvious from our morning discussion. But to me it is telling you that your revised statement that pious is what’s Gods love may not be a path to definition of piety.
What do you want to say, Plato?
Plato: If I may, Socrates. It seems that you did not covered all possible logical paths.
Socrates: How so?
Plato: Trying to identify piety we are juggling three words to find the piety nature: Piety itself, Gods and Love. I am not saying that they are related, that’s what Euthyphro has proposed. But if we are trying to be in this assumption, then it seems that we already proved that path to piety formulation is not going through Gods nature, and we were not able to define it through piety itself today morning. But there is a third path: love.
Socrates: Hmm, I see. It seems you make a very smart point, Plato. You still using too many words to say it but you are improving your logical skills.
Plato: I am a good student of yours, Socrates.
Socrates: I don’t have students, and I don’t teach anything, Plato.
Plato: You may be thinking that you are not teaching, but I do have a good teacher. Do you want to discuss that?
Socrates: Not now, but do you really think that this act you are calling love can be a path to define piety?
Plato: It may be. Ask me.
Socrates: Why do you think that love can give us a clue?
Plato: We already agreed in the morning that Act is the cause of the state. Thing is visible because it is being seeing. That thing is in state of carry because it is being carried.(Plat. Euthyph. 10b-10c) Remember this part Euthyphro? I am afraid to ask Socrates with his Mnemosyne.
Euthyphro: Yes. I almost break my head trying to grasp that.
Plato: Good. So the act of love is what makes the things pious.
Socrates: But humans also can love but without piety. How you will answer to that, Plato?
Plato: The love of Gods and love of human are different. We just use the same word “love” by mistake. They are different in nature, and Gods love has something what human’s does not.
Socrates: Nice try. But you have to say what is different in Gods’ love. You do understand that we may have no Greek language to talk such difference. It is not difference in objects or subjects. It is a difference in Acts, Actions and Processes?
Plato: I do understand this, Socrates. But difference can be explained through difference in ideal forms of these realizations.
Socrates: Plato, please stop here. Your theory of forms is not ready to be discussed yet. You should work on it for the next ten years. And then and only then when it will be ready to withstand all sophistic attacks you can speak about it.
Plato: Well, then I should be quiet and will not say a word about it for the next ten years until it will be strong and powerful.
Euthyphro: Wait a second, but what’s about me?
Socrates: What about you,my young friend?
Euthyphro: What I should do about my father?
Socrates: If your motivation is the piety alone, then the question you should be asking yourself is: do you know about piety enough to commit a blasphemy, specifically: to prosecute your father? But this decision is yours and only yours.
I think we done for today.
Xanthippe, can you, please bring some wine for our guests?
Xanthippe: It is your guests. You bring them wine yourself, Socrates. I am tired.
(Socrates is going into the house for wine)
Xanthippe(angry): Euthyphro, what the damn are you doing here?
Euthyphro: I am talking to your husband.
Xanthippe: I can see that, thanks to Theia. Did my husband told you what was Archon’s decision about his case?
Euthyphro: No
Xanthippe: And you didn’t ask. Seems like a really good friend to me. Then, I’ll tell you what.
Socrates was summon to the trial by Heliaia. The death penalty is on the table. He needs time to prepare his defense. But, instead, he is spending his time talking to jerks like you. Go home. It’s late.
Euthyphro: I did not know that. Can I help in anyway?
Crito: No you can’t. Nobody can. Gods already set the path, and Socrates already made his choice. Nothing can stop it now.
Euthyphro: Is that absolutely nothing I can do for him?
Plato: Just vote “not guilty” when the time comes. That’s it.
Euthyphro: But would it be pious?
Crito: Plato, by Zeus, I bet you hundred tetradrachmes that this father-beater will not be able to sue me if I kill him right now.
(Crito looking for his sword.)
Plato: Euthyphro, before old Crito find his sword and I lose my hundred tetradrachmes, in your place, I’d better run out of here fast and furious. Good bye and don’t forget today’s evening.
Euthyphro(running out): I won’t.
(Translated from unpublished Euthyphro’s Memorabilia by Sergey)
syllogism 