ou not think that he knew?

SOCRATES: I have not a good memory, Meno, and therefore I cannot now
tell what I thought of him at the time. And I dare say that he did know,
and that you know what he said: please, therefore, to remind me of what
he said; or, if you would rather, tell me your own view; for I suspect
that you and he think much alike.

MENO: Very true.

SOCRATES: Then as he is not here, never mind him, and do you tell me:
By the gods, Meno, be generous, and tell me what you say that virtue is;
for I shall be truly delighted to find that I have been mistaken, and
that you and Gorgias do really have this knowledge; although I have been
just saying that I have never found anybody who had.

MENO: There will be no difficulty, Socrates, in answering your question.
Let us take first the virtue of a man--he should know how to administer
the state, and in the administration of it to benefit his friends
and harm his enemies; and he must also be careful not to suffer harm
himself. A woman's virtue, if you wish to know about that, may also
be easily described: her duty is to order her house, and keep what is
indoors, and obey her husband. Every age, every condition of life, young
or old, male or female, bond or free, has a different virtue: there are
virtues numberless, and no lack of definitions of them; for virtue is
relative to the actions and ages of each of us in all that we do. And
the same may be said of vice, Socrates (Compare Arist. Pol.).

SOCRATES: How fortunate I am, Meno! When I ask you for one virtue, you
present me with a swarm of them (Compare Theaet.), which are in your
keeping. Suppose that I carry on the figure of the swarm, and ask of
you, What is the nature of the bee? and you answer that there are many
kinds of bees, and I reply: But do bees differ as bees, because there
are many and different kinds of them; or are they not rather to be
distinguished by some other quality, as for example beauty, size, or
shape? How would you answer me?

MENO: I should answer that bees do not differ from one another, as bees.

SOCRATES: And if I went on to say: That is what I desire to know, Meno;
tell me what is the quality in which they do not differ, but are all
alike;--would you be able to answer?

MENO: I should.

SOCRATES: And so of the virtues, however many and different they may be,
they have all a common nature which makes them virtues; and on this he
who would answer the question, 'What is virtue?'