cerning between them, fondly thinks that because he has wherewithal to
buy whatever he has a mind to, he can therefore do whatever may lend to
his advantage; or who, judging himself incapable to do what is useful for
himself, thinks, nevertheless, that he is well in the world, and in a
safe and happy condition of life. That it is likewise a folly for a man
to persuade himself that, being rich and having no merit, he will pass
for a man of parts; or that, not having the reputation of being a man of
parts, he shall nevertheless be esteemed.

CHAPTER II. CONFERENCE BETWEEN SOCRATES AND EUTHYDEMUS, IN WHICH HE
CONVINCES THAT YOUNG MAN, WHO HAD A GREAT OPINION OF HIMSELF, THAT HE
KNEW NOTHING.

When Socrates, on the other hand, found any who soothe themselves up in
the belief that they are well instructed, and who boast of their own
sufficiency, he never failed to chastise the vanity of such persons. Of
his conduct in this particular I will relate the following instance--

He had been told that Euthydemus had bought up several works of the most
celebrated poets and sophists, and that this acquisition had so puffed
him up with arrogance, that he already esteemed himself the greatest man
for learning and parts of any of the age, and pretended to no less than
being the first man of the city, either for negotiating or for
discoursing in public. Nevertheless, he was still so young that he was
not admitted into the assemblies of the people, and if he had any affair
to solicit he generally came and placed himself in one of the shops that
were near the courts of justice. Socrates, having observed his station,
failed not to go thither likewise with two or three of his friends; and
there, being fallen into discourse, this question was started: Whether it
was by the improving conversation of philosophers or by the strength of
his natural parts only, that Themistocles surpassed all his countrymen in
wisdom and valour, and advanced himself to such a high rank and to so
great esteem, that all the Republic cast their eyes upon him whenever
their affairs required the conduct of a man of bravery and wisdom?
Socrates, who had a mind to reflect upon Euthydemus, answered that "a man
must be very stupid to believe that mechanic arts (which are
comparatively things but of small importance) cannot be learnt without
masters; and yet that the art of governing of States, which is a thing of
the greatest moment and that requires the greate