Soc. You are quite a prophet! Now tell me, do you consider some just things to be expedient, and others not?
Alc. Yes.
Soc. And again, some noble, and some not?
Alc. What do you mean by that question?
Soc. I would ask whether anyone ever seemed to you to be doing what was base and yet just.
Alc. Never.
Soc. Well, are all just things noble?
Alc. Yes.
Soc. And what of noble things, in their turn? Are they all good, or some only, while others are not?
Alc. In my opinion, Socrates, some noble things are evil.
Soc. And some base things are good?
Alc. Yes.
Soc. Do you mean as in one of the many cases where men have gone to rescue a comrade or kinsman in battle, and have been either wounded or killed, while those who did not go to the rescue, as duty bade, have got off safe and sound?
Alc. Precisely.
Soc. And such a rescue you call noble, in respect of the endeavor to save those whom it was one’s duty to save; and this is courage, is it not?
Alc. Yes.
Soc. But you call it evil, in respect of the deaths and wounds?
Alc. Yes.
Soc. And is not the courage one thing, and the death another?
Alc. Certainly.
Soc. Then it is not in the same respect that rescuing one’s friends is noble and evil?
Alc. Apparently not.
Soc. Then see if, inasmuch as it is noble, it is also good; for in the present case you were admitting that the rescue was noble in respect of its courage: now consider this very thing, courage, and say whether it is good or bad. Consider it in this way: which would you choose to have, good things or evil?
Alc. Good.
Soc. And most of all, the greatest goods, and of such things you would least allow yourself to be deprived?
Alc. To be sure.
Soc. Then what do you say of courage? At what price would you allow yourself to be deprived of it?
Alc. I would give up life itself if I had to be a coward.
Soc. Then you regard cowardice as the uttermost evil.
Alc. I do.
Soc. On a par with death, it seems.
Alc. Yes.
Soc. And life and courage are the extreme opposites of death and cowardice?
Alc. Yes.
Soc. And you would most desire to have the former, and least the latter?
Alc. Yes.
Soc. Is that because you think the former best, and the latter worst?
Alc. To be sure.
Soc. So you reckon courage among the best things, and death among the worst.
Alc. I do.
Soc. Then the rescue of one’s friends in battle, inasmuch as it is noble in respect of the working of good by courage, you have termed noble?
Alc. Apparently.
Soc. But evil, in respect of the working of evil by death?
Alc. Yes.