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Section 16

SOCRATES. And now, do you not realize that you are saying the pious is what is dear to the gods? And is "what is dear to the gods" anything other than the god-loved?

EUTHYPHRO. No.

SOCRATES. So either we were wrong to agree earlier, or, if we were right then, our present statement is wrong.

EUTHYPHRO. It seems so.

SOCRATES. Then we must examine from the beginning what the pious is. I shall not willingly give up until I learn it. Do not despise me, but apply your mind in every way with the utmost effort and tell me the truth now. For if any man knows it, you do; and like Proteus, you must not be let go until you tell me. If you did not know clearly what the pious and the impious are, you would never have ventured to prosecute your elderly father for murder on behalf of a day-laborer. You would have feared the gods, lest you were doing it wrongly, and you would have been ashamed before men. But as it is, I am certain you think you know clearly what is pious and what is not. So speak, excellent Euthyphro, and do not hide what you believe it to be.

EUTHYPHRO. Some other time, Socrates. I am in a hurry somewhere right now, and it is time for me to go.

SOCRATES. What a thing to do, my friend! You are leaving me, casting me down from the great hope I had that I would learn from you the things pious and the things not, and thus escape Meletus's indictment. I would have shown him that I had now become wise in divine matters thanks to Euthyphro, and that I no longer act ignorantly or innovate regarding them; and furthermore, that I would live a better life for the rest of my days.