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Section 227

COMRADE. I think, Socrates, we must understand the lover of gain correctly. The lover of gain is one who is intent on getting it from things from which honorable men do not dare to gain.

SOCRATES. But do you not see, my sweet friend, that we just agreed that to gain is to be benefited?

COMRADE. Yes, what of it?

SOCRATES. Well, we also agreed that all men always wish for good things.

COMRADE. True.

SOCRATES. So do not honorable men also wish to have all gains, since they are good things?

COMRADE. Yes, Socrates, but not gains from which they would suffer harm.

SOCRATES. By "suffer harm," do you mean suffer loss or something else?

COMRADE. No, I mean suffer loss.

SOCRATES. Is a man harmed by gain or by loss?

COMRADE. By loss.

SOCRATES. So it is not possible to be harmed by gain, if indeed gain is good?

COMRADE. Impossible.

SOCRATES. Then the honorable man would not shrink from a gain, if it is genuinely a good thing.

COMRADE. But I say he would shrink from a gain that is wicked.

SOCRATES. Then do you think any gain is wicked, when gain itself has been shown to be good?

COMRADE. I certainly do.

SOCRATES. Then I must try to understand you. Is there such a thing as a wicked gain and a good gain?

COMRADE. I believe so.

SOCRATES. And just as there is good food and bad food, they are both food, are they not?

COMRADE. Yes.

SOCRATES. In the same way, whether a gain is good or bad, is the one any more a gain than the other?

COMRADE. No.

SOCRATES. Let me ask you: if both the good and the bad gain are equally gain, what is the common quality that makes you call them both "gain"?

COMRADE. Because both add to what one had before.

SOCRATES. And you consider this addition to be a good thing, do you not?

COMRADE. I do.

SOCRATES. Then returning to our previous statements, if gain is an addition to one's possessions, and if to have more is a good thing, how can gain be evil?

COMRADE. You confuse me, Socrates.

SOCRATES. But I assure you, I am not trying to deceive you. I am asking you to look at it as if you were examining a coin. If you say one coin is good and another is counterfeit, the counterfeit is still a coin, but it lacks the true value. Now tell me, do you consider the love of gain to be a good thing or a bad thing?

COMRADE. A bad thing, Socrates.