consist
in his rendering the state better provided with ways and means?"

Certainly (the disputant would answer).

Soc. And in the event of war, by rendering his state superior to her
antagonists?

The Disputant. Clearly.

Soc. Or on an embassy as a diplomatist, I presume, by securing friends
in place of enemies?

That I should imagine (replies the disputant).

Soc. Well, and in parliamentary debate, by putting a stop to party
strife and fostering civic concord?

The Disputant. That is my opinion.

By this method of bringing back the argument to its true starting-point,
even the disputant himself would be affected and the truth become
manifest to his mind.

His own--that is, the Socratic--method of conducting a rational
discussion (42) was to proceed step by step from one point of general
agreement to another: "Herein lay the real security of reasoning," (43)
he would say; and for this reason he was more successful in winning the
common assent of his hearers than any one I ever knew. He had a saying
that Homer had conferred on Odyesseus the title of a safe, unerring
orator, (44) because he had the gift to lead the discussion from one
commonly accepted opinion to another.

(42) Of, "of threading the mazes of an argument."

(43) Reading {tauton asphaleian}; aliter. {tauten ten asphaleian} =
"that this security was part and parcel of reasoning."

(44) "Od." viii. 171, {o d' asphaleos agoreuei}, "and his speech runs
surely on its way" (Butcher and Lang), where Odysseus is
describing himself. Cf. Dion. Hal. "de Arte Rhet." xi. 8.

VII

The frankness and simplicity with which Socrates endeavoured to declare
his own opinions, in dealing with those who conversed with him, (1) is,
I think, conclusively proved by the above instances; at the same time,
as I hope now to show, he was no less eager to cultivate a spirit of
independence in others, which would enable them to stand alone in all
transactions suited to their powers.

(1) Or, "who frequented his society, is, I hope, clear from what has
been said."

Of all the men I have ever known, he was most anxious to ascertain in
what any of those about him was really versed; and within the range of
his own knowledge he showed the greatest zeal in teaching everything
which it befits the true gentleman (2) to know; or where he was
deficient in knowledge himself, (3) he would introduce his friends to
those who knew. (4) He did not fail to t