Euth. No, nor yet ignorance of carpentering.

Soc. Well, ignorance of shoemaking?

Euth. No, nor ignorance of any of these: rather the reverse, for the
majority of those who do know just these matters are "little better than
slaves."

Soc. You mean it is a title particularly to those who are ignorant of
the beautiful, the good, the just? (40)

(40) Cf. Goethe's "Im Ganzen Guten Schonen resolut zu leben."

It is, in my opinion (he replied).

Soc. Then we must in every way strain every nerve to avoid the
imputation of being slaves?

Euth. Nay, Socrates, by all that is holy, I did flatter myself that
at any rate I was a student of philosophy, and on the right road to
be taught everything essential to one who would fain make beauty and
goodness his pursuit. (41) So that now you may well imagine my despair
when, for all my pains expended, I cannot even answer the questions put
to me about what most of all a man should know; and there is no path of
progress open to me, no avenue of improvement left.

(41) {tes kalokagathias}, the virtue of the {kalos te kagathos}--
nobility of soul. Cf. above, I. vi. 14.

Thereupon Socrates: Tell me, Euthydemus, have you ever been to Delphi?

Yes, certainly; twice (said he).

Soc. And did you notice an inscription somewhere on the temple:
{GNOMI SEAUTON}--KNOW THYSELF?

Euth. I did.

Soc. Did you, possibly, pay no regard to the inscription? or did you
give it heed and try to discover who and what you were?

I can safely say I did not (he answered). That much I made quite sure
I knew, at any rate; since if I did not know even myself, what in the
world did I know?

Soc. Can a man be said, do you think, to know himself who knows his own
name and nothing more? or must he not rather set to work precisely like
the would-be purchaser of a horse, who certainly does not think that he
has got the knowledge he requires until he has discovered whether the
beast is tractable or stubborn, strong or weak, quick or slow, and
how it stands with the other points, serviceable or the reverse, in
reference to the use and purpose of a horse? So, I say, must a man
in like manner interrogate his own nature in reference to a man's
requirements, and learn to know his own capacities, must he not?

Euth. Yes, so it strikes me: he who knows not his own ability knows not
himself.

Soc. And this too is plain, is it not: that through self-knowledge men
meet with countless blessings, and throug