§225ΣΩ. τί γὰρ τὸ φιλοκερδές;
SOCRATES: What then is love of gain?
τί ποτέ ἐστιν, καὶ τίνες οἱ φιλοκερδεῖς;
What on earth is it, and who are the lovers of gain?
ΕΤ. ἐμοὶ μὲν δοκοῦσιν οἳ ἂν κερδαίνειν ἀξιῶσιν ἀπὸ τῶν μηδενὸς ἀξίων.
FRIEND: To me they seem to be those who think it right to make a gain from things of no value.
ΣΩ. πότερον οὖν σοι δοκοῦσιν γιγνώσκοντες ὅτι οὐδενός ἐστιν ἄξια, ἢ ἀγνοοῦντες;
SOCRATES: Do they seem to you, then, to do this knowing that these things are of no value, or being ignorant?
εἰ γὰρ ἀγνοοῦντες, ἀνοήτους λέγεις τοὺς φιλοκερδεῖς.
For if being ignorant, you are calling the lovers of gain foolish.
ΕΤ. ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἀνοήτους λέγω, ἀλλὰ πανούργους καὶ πονηροὺς καὶ ἥττους τοῦ κέρδους, γιγνώσκοντας ὅτι οὐδενὸς ἄξιά ἐστιν ἀφʼ ὧν τολμῶσι κερδαίνειν, ὅμως τολμᾶν φιλοκερδεῖν διʼ ἀναισχυντίαν.
FRIEND: But I do not call them foolish, but rather knavish and wicked and slaves to gain, who, knowing that the things from which they dare to make a gain are worth nothing, nevertheless dare to be greedy through shamelessness.
ΣΩ. ἆρʼ οὖν τοιόνδε λέγεις τὸν φιλοκερδῆ, οἷον ἐὰν φυτεύων γεωργὸς ἀνὴρ καὶ γιγνώσκων ὅτι οὐδενὸς ἄξιον τὸ φυτόν, ἀξιοῖ ἀπὸ τούτου ἐκτραφέντος κερδαίνειν;
SOCRATES: Do you then mean that the lover of gain is someone like this: if a farming man, when planting, and knowing that the plant is of no value, thinks it right to make a gain from it when it is grown up?
ἆρα τοιοῦτον αὐτὸν λέγεις;
Do you mean he is such a person?
ΕΤ. ἀπὸ παντὸς ὅ γε φιλοκερδής, ὦ Σώκρατες, οἴεται δεῖν κερδαίνειν.
FRIEND: The lover of gain, Socrates, thinks he ought to make a gain from everything.
ΣΩ. μή μοι οὕτως εἰκῇ, ὥσπερ τι ἠδικημένος ὑπό τινος, ἀλλὰ προσέχων ἐμοὶ τὸν νοῦν ἀπόκριναι, ὥσπερ ἂν εἰ ἐξ ἀρχῆς πάλιν ἠρώτων·
SOCRATES: Do not answer me so at random, as if you had been wronged by someone, but pay attention to me and answer as if I were asking you again from the beginning.
οὐχὶ ὁμολογεῖς τὸν φιλοκερδῆ ἐπιστήμονα εἶναι περὶ τῆς ἀξίας τούτου ὅθεν κερδαίνειν ἀξιοῖ;
Do you not agree that the lover of gain has knowledge about the value of that from which he thinks it right to make a gain?
ΕΤ. ἔγωγε.
FRIEND: I do.
ΣΩ. τίς οὖν ἐπιστήμων περὶ φυτῶν τῆς ἀξίας, ἐν ὁποίᾳ ἄξια φυτευθῆναι καὶ ὥρᾳ καὶ χώρᾳ; ἵνα τι καὶ ἡμεῖς τῶν σοφῶν ῥημάτων ἐμβάλωμεν, ὧν οἱ δεξιοὶ περὶ τὰς δίκας καλλιεποῦνται.
SOCRATES: Who, then, has knowledge about the value of plants, in what kind of season and soil they are worth planting? — if we too may insert some of those clever phrases with which the skilled speakers in the law courts adorn their speeches.
ΕΤ. ἐγὼ μὲν οἶμαι γεωργόν.
FRIEND: I, for my part, think it is the farmer.
ΣΩ. τὸ οὖν ἀξιοῦν κερδαίνειν ἄλλο τι λέγεις ἢ οἴεσθαι δεῖν κερδαίνειν;
SOCRATES: By "thinking it right to make a gain," then, do you mean anything other than "thinking one ought to make a gain"?
ΕΤ. τοῦτο λέγω.
FRIEND: That is what I mean.
§226ΣΩ. μὴ τοίνυν με ἐπιχείρει ἐξαπατᾶν, ἄνδρα πρεσβύτερον ἤδη οὕτω νέος ὤν, ἀποκρινόμενος ὥσπερ νυνδὴ ἃ οὐδʼ αὐτὸς οἴει, ἀλλʼ ὡς ἀληθῶς εἰπέ· ἆρʼ ἔστιν ὅντινα οἴει γεωργικὸν ἄνδρα γιγνόμενον, καὶ γιγνώσκοντα ὅτι οὐδενὸς ἄξιον φυτεύει τὸ φυτόν, οἴεσθαι ἀπὸ τούτου κερδαίνειν;
SOCRATES: Do not try, then, to deceive me, who am already an older man, being yourself so young, by answering as you did just now what you do not even believe yourself, but speak the truth: do you think there is any man who, being a farmer and knowing that the plant he is planting is worth nothing, thinks he will make a gain from it?
ΕΤ. μὰ Δίʼ οὐκ ἔγωγε.
FRIEND: By Zeus, not I!
ΣΩ. τί δέ;
SOCRATES: What about a horseman?
ἱππικὸν ἄνδρα γιγνώσκοντα ὅτι οὐδενὸς ἄξια σιτία τῷ ἵππῳ παρέχει, ἀγνοεῖν αὐτὸν οἴει ὅτι τὸν ἵππον διαφθείρει;
Do you think that if he knows he is providing food of no value to his horse, he is ignorant of the fact that he is ruining the horse?
ΕΤ. οὐκ ἔγωγε.
FRIEND: Not I.
ΣΩ. οὐκ ἄρα οἴεταί γε ἀπὸ τούτων κερδαίνειν τῶν σιτίων τῶν μηδενὸς ἀξίων.
SOCRATES: So he does not think, at least, that he is making a gain from this food which is of no value.
ΕΤ. οὐχί.
FRIEND: No.
ΣΩ. τί δέ;
SOCRATES: And what of a helmsman?
κυβερνήτην μηδενὸς ἄξια ἱστία καὶ πηδάλια τῇ νηὶ παρεσκευασμένον ἀγνοεῖν οἴει ὅτι ζημιωθήσεται καὶ κινδυνεύσει καὶ αὐτὸς ἀπολέσθαι καὶ τὴν ναῦν ἀπολέσαι καὶ ἃ ἂν ἄγῃ πάντα;
Do you think that if he has equipped his ship with sails and rudders of no value, he is ignorant of the fact that he will suffer loss, and will run the risk of both destroying himself, destroying the ship, and losing everything he may be carrying?
ΕΤ. οὐκ ἔγωγε.
FRIEND: Not I.
ΣΩ. οὐκ ἄρα οἴεταί γε κερδαίνειν ἀπὸ τῶν σκευῶν τῶν μηδενὸς ἀξίων.
SOCRATES: So he does not think, at least, that he is making a gain from tackle that is of no value.
ΕΤ. οὐ γάρ.
FRIEND: Indeed not.
ΣΩ. ἀλλὰ στρατηγὸς γιγνώσκων ὅτι ἡ στρατιὰ αὐτῷ οὐδενὸς ἄξια ὅπλα ἔχει, οἴεται ἀπὸ τούτων κερδαίνειν καὶ ἀξιοῖ κερδαίνειν;
SOCRATES: But does a general, knowing that his army has weapons of no value, think he will make a gain from them, or think it right to make a gain?
ΕΤ. οὐδαμῶς.
FRIEND: Not at all.
ΣΩ. ἀλλʼ αὐλητὴς αὐλοὺς οὐδενὸς ἀξίους ἔχων ἢ κιθαριστὴς λύραν ἢ τοξότης τόξον ἢ ἄλλος ὁστισοῦν συλλήβδην τῶν δημιουργῶν ἢ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἐμφρόνων ἀνδρῶν μηδενὸς ἄξια ὄργανα ἢ ἄλλην παρασκευὴν ἡντιναοῦν ἔχων ἀπὸ τούτων οἴεται κερδαίνειν;
SOCRATES: But does a flute-player who has flutes of no value, or a cithara-player with a lyre, or an archer with a bow, or in short, any other of the craftsmen or of other sensible men, having instruments or any other equipment of no value, think he will make a gain from them?
ΕΤ. οὔκουν φαίνεταί γε.
FRIEND: It certainly does not appear so.
ΣΩ. τίνας οὖν ποτε λέγεις τοὺς φιλοκερδεῖς;
SOCRATES: Whom on earth, then, do you mean by the lovers of gain?
οὐ γάρ που τούτους γε οὓς διεληλύθαμεν, ἀλλʼ οἵτινες γιγνώσκοντες τὰ οὐδενὸς ἄξια ἀπὸ τούτων οἴονται δεῖν κερδαίνειν·
For surely not those whom we have just gone through, but those who, knowing things to be of no value, think they ought to make a gain from them.
ἀλλʼ οὕτω μέν, ὦ θαυμάσιε, ὡς σὺ λέγεις, οὐκ ἔστʼ ἀνθρώπων οὐδεὶς φιλοκερδής.
But in that way, my wonderful friend, as you say, there is no man who is a lover of gain.
ΕΤ. ἀλλʼ ἐγώ, ὦ Σώκρατες, βούλομαι λέγειν τούτους φιλοκερδεῖς εἶναι, οἳ ἑκάστοτε ὑπὸ ἀπληστίας καὶ πάνυ σμικρὰ καὶ ὀλίγου ἄξια καὶ οὐδενὸς γλίχονται ὑπερφυῶς καὶ φιλοκερδοῦσιν.
FRIEND: But, Socrates, I want to say that those are lovers of gain who, on each occasion, from greediness, strive excessively after and seek to make a gain from things that are extremely small, of little value, and worth nothing.
ΣΩ. οὐ δήπου, ὦ βέλτιστε, γιγνώσκοντες ὅτι οὐδενὸς ἄξιά ἐστιν· τοῦτο μὲν γὰρ ἤδη ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς τῷ λόγῳ ἐξηλέγξαμεν ὅτι ἀδύνατον.
SOCRATES: Not, surely, my excellent friend, knowing that they are of no value; for we have already refuted ourselves on this point in our argument, showing that it is impossible.
ΕΤ. ἔμοιγε δοκεῖ.
FRIEND: So it seems to me.
ΣΩ. οὐκοῦν εἰ μὴ γιγνώσκοντες, δῆλον ὅτι ἀγνοοῦντες, οἰόμενοι δὲ τὰ οὐδενὸς ἄξια πολλοῦ ἄξια εἶναι.
SOCRATES: Therefore, if not knowing, they must clearly be ignorant, but thinking that things of no value are of great value.
ΕΤ. φαίνεται.
FRIEND: It appears so.
ΣΩ. ἄλλο τι οὖν οἵ γε φιλοκερδεῖς φιλοῦσι τὸ κέρδος;
SOCRATES: Is it not true, then, that the lovers of gain love gain?
ΕΤ. ναί.
FRIEND: Yes.
ΣΩ. κέρδος δὲ λέγεις ἐναντίον τῇ ζημίᾳ;
SOCRATES: And by "gain" do you mean the opposite of "loss"?