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Section 12

EUTHYPHRO. I think the joke fits the situation quite well, Socrates. I am not the one putting this motion into our statements to make them wander around. You seem to be the Daedalus here; if it were up to me, they would stay right where they are.

SOCRATES. I must be much more clever in the art than he was, my friend, because he only made his own creations move, while I can apparently make other people's creations move as well! The most remarkable thing about my art is that I am wise against my will. I would prefer my arguments to remain fast and immovable rather than possess the wisdom of Daedalus and the wealth of Tantalus combined. But enough of this. Since you seem to be getting lazy, I will eagerly help you show me how to teach me about the pious. Do not give up yet. See if you don't think it necessary that all the pious must be just.

EUTHYPHRO. I do.

SOCRATES. Is all the just also pious? Or is all the pious just, but not all the just pious—some of it being pious and some of it being something else?

EUTHYPHRO. I cannot follow what you are saying, Socrates.

SOCRATES. And yet you are younger than me by as much as you are wiser! But as I say, you have grown lazy from the wealth of your wisdom. Pull yourself together, my good man! What I am saying is not hard to understand. I am saying the exact opposite of what the poet meant when he wrote: "Of Zeus, who acts and brought all this to be, He will not speak. For where there is fear, there is also reverence." I disagree with the poet on this. Shall I tell you why?

EUTHYPHRO. By all means.

SOCRATES. It does not seem to me that "where there is fear, there is also reverence." Many people fear diseases, poverty, and other such things, but they do not reverence the things they fear. Do you agree?

EUTHYPHRO. Certainly.

SOCRATES. But where there is reverence, there is fear. Is there anyone who reverences and feels ashamed of a certain action who does not simultaneously fear and dread a bad reputation?

EUTHYPHRO. He surely fears it.

SOCRATES. So it is not right to say "where there is fear, there is also reverence." For fear is broader than reverence. Reverence is a part of fear, just as odd is a part of number. Where there is number, there is not necessarily odd, but where there is odd, there is number. You follow me now, I assume?

EUTHYPHRO. Yes, entirely.

SOCRATES. This is the sort of thing I was asking about earlier. Where there is justice, is there also piety? Or rather, where there is piety, there is justice; but where there is justice, there is not everywhere piety, for piety is a part of justice. Shall we say this, or do you think otherwise?

EUTHYPHRO. No, let us say that. It seems to me you are speaking correctly.