e ever taught him all this? You must know about him, if, as
you say, he was born and bred in your house.

MENO: And I am certain that no one ever did teach him.

SOCRATES: And yet he has the knowledge?

MENO: The fact, Socrates, is undeniable.

SOCRATES: But if he did not acquire the knowledge in this life, then he
must have had and learned it at some other time?

MENO: Clearly he must.

SOCRATES: Which must have been the time when he was not a man?

MENO: Yes.

SOCRATES: And if there have been always true thoughts in him, both at
the time when he was and was not a man, which only need to be awakened
into knowledge by putting questions to him, his soul must have always
possessed this knowledge, for he always either was or was not a man?

MENO: Obviously.

SOCRATES: And if the truth of all things always existed in the soul,
then the soul is immortal. Wherefore be of good cheer, and try to
recollect what you do not know, or rather what you do not remember.

MENO: I feel, somehow, that I like what you are saying.

SOCRATES: And I, Meno, like what I am saying. Some things I have said
of which I am not altogether confident. But that we shall be better and
braver and less helpless if we think that we ought to enquire, than
we should have been if we indulged in the idle fancy that there was no
knowing and no use in seeking to know what we do not know;--that is a
theme upon which I am ready to fight, in word and deed, to the utmost of
my power.

MENO: There again, Socrates, your words seem to me excellent.

SOCRATES: Then, as we are agreed that a man should enquire about that
which he does not know, shall you and I make an effort to enquire
together into the nature of virtue?

MENO: By all means, Socrates. And yet I would much rather return to my
original question, Whether in seeking to acquire virtue we should regard
it as a thing to be taught, or as a gift of nature, or as coming to men
in some other way?

SOCRATES: Had I the command of you as well as of myself, Meno, I would
not have enquired whether virtue is given by instruction or not,
until we had first ascertained 'what it is.' But as you think only
of controlling me who am your slave, and never of controlling
yourself,--such being your notion of freedom, I must yield to you,
for you are irresistible. And therefore I have now to enquire into the
qualities of a thing of which I do not as yet know the nature. At any
rate, will you condescend a little,