ere." "It must therefore be granted,"
said Socrates, "that these things which are sometimes useful and
sometimes hurtful are not rather good than bad." "That is, indeed, the
consequence of your argument," replied Euthydemus; "but it cannot be
denied that knowledge is a good thing; for what is there in which a
knowing man has not the advantage of an ignorant one?" "And have you not
read," said Socrates, "what happened to Daedalus for his knowing so many
excellent arts, and how, being fallen into the hands of Minos, he was
detained by force, and saw himself at once banished from his country and
stripped of his liberty? To complete his misfortune, flying away with
his son, he was the occasion of his being miserably lost, and could not,
after all, escape in his own person; for, falling into the hands of
barbarians, he was again made a slave. Know you not likewise the
adventure of Palamedes, who was so envied by Ulysses for his great
capacity, and who perished wretchedly by the calumnious artifices of that
rival? How many great men likewise has the King of Persia caused to be
seized and carried away because of their admirable parts, and who are now
languishing under him in a perpetual slavery?" "But, granting this to be
as you say," added Euthydemus, "you will certainly allow good fortune to
be a good?" "I will," said Socrates, "provided this good fortune
consists in things that are undoubtedly good." "And how can it be that
the things which compose good fortune should not be infallibly good?"
"They are," answered Socrates, "unless you reckon among them beauty and
strength of body, riches, honours, and other things of that nature." "And
how can a man be happy without them?" "Rather," said Socrates, "how can
a man be happy with things that are the causes of so many misfortunes?
For many are daily corrupted because of their beauty; many who presume
too much on their own strength are oppressed under the burden of their
undertakings. Among the rich, some are lost in luxury, and others fall
into the snares of those that wait for their estates. And lastly, the
reputation and honours that are acquired in Republics are often the cause
of their ruin who possess them." "Certainly," said Euthydemus, "if I am
in the wrong to praise good fortune, I know not what we ought to ask of
the Deity." "Perhaps, too," replied Socrates, "you have never considered
it, because you think you know it well enough.

"But," continued he, cha