Dialogues of Plato, Vol. 2 of 5 (Classic Reprint)

Dialogue begins abruptly with a question of Meno, whoM eno. asks whether virtue can be taught. Socrates replies that he ANALYSIS. 71 does not as yet know what virtue is, and has never known any one who did. Then he cannot have met Gorgias when he was at A thens. Yes, Socrates had met him, but he has a bad memory, and has forgotten what Gorgias said. Will Meno tell him his own notion, which is probably not very different from 72 that of Gorgias? Oyes nothing easier: there is the virtue of a man, of a woman, of an old man, and of a child ;there is a virtue of every age and state of life, all of which may be easily described. 73 Socrates reminds Meno that this is only an enumeration of the virtues and not a definition of the notion which is common to them all. In a second attempt Meno defines virtue to be the power of command. But to this, again, exceptions are taken. For there must be a virtue of those who obey, as well as of those who command ;and the power of command must be justly or not unjustly exercised. Meno is very ready to admit that justice is virtue :W ould you say virtue or a virtue, for there are other 74 virtues, such as courage, temperance, and the like ;just as round is a figure, and black and white are colours, and yet there are other figures and other colours. Let Meno take the examples of figure and colour, and try to define them. Meno confesses his inability, and after a process of interrogation, in whichS o75 crates explains to him the nature of a simile in multis, Socrates himself defines figure as the accompaniment of colour.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

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