Dialogue

  1 Lysis|         knowledge to virtue and good, which also recurs in the
  2 Lysis|         to them, and do them no good. And no one will love him,
  3 Lysis|         him, if he does them no good; and he can only do them
  4 Lysis|         and he can only do them good by knowledge; and as he
  5 Lysis|       like one another. And the good have no need of one another,
  6 Lysis|       the friend of the unjust, good of evil.~Thus we arrive
  7 Lysis|        of unlike; and therefore good is not the friend of good,
  8 Lysis|       good is not the friend of good, nor evil of evil, nor good
  9 Lysis|     good, nor evil of evil, nor good of evil, nor evil of good.
 10 Lysis|       good of evil, nor evil of good. What remains but that the
 11 Lysis|   indifferent, which is neither good nor evil, should be the
 12 Lysis|    friend of like,’ but) of the good, or rather of the beautiful?~
 13 Lysis|  attachment to the beautiful or good? There are circumstances
 14 Lysis|         becomes a friend of the good for the sake of getting
 15 Lysis|   friendship be, other than the good? But the good is desired
 16 Lysis|    other than the good? But the good is desired by us only as
 17 Lysis|        can the congenial be the good; for good is not the friend
 18 Lysis|      congenial be the good; for good is not the friend of good,
 19 Lysis|       good is not the friend of good, as has been also shown.
 20 Lysis|        only for the sake of the good. That friends are not necessarily
 21 Lysis|         of the terms ‘like’ or ‘good’ is too strictly limited;
 22 Lysis|         the introduction of the good, is deserving of attention.
 23 Lysis|         the inter-dependence of good and evil, and the allusion
 24 Lysis|        a tie exists between the good only and for the sake of
 25 Lysis|         and for the sake of the good; or 3) whether there may
 26 Lysis|     draws together ‘the neither good nor evil’ for the sake of
 27 Lysis|       evil’ for the sake of the good and because of the evil;
 28 Lysis|   pleasant, the useful, and the good:’ is the last to be resolved
 29 Lysis|         mutually rejoice in any good which happens to either
 30 Lysis|   always the same. The greatest good of friendship is not daily
 31 Lysis|         find what is human. The good of it is necessarily limited;
 32 Lysis|     almost as much as among the good; the bad and good, and ‘
 33 Lysis|     among the good; the bad and good, and ‘the neither bad nor
 34 Lysis|        and ‘the neither bad nor good,’ are drawn together in
 35 Lysis|       we do not deny that great good may result from such attachments,
 36 Lysis| friendships must be estimated a good deal by the manner in which
 37 Lysis|       will affirm a man to be a good poet who injures himself
 38 Lysis|     desire; so that you have no good, as would appear, out of
 39 Lysis|         trust us to do as seems good to us—they will hinder us
 40 Lysis|      for you will be useful and good; but if you are not wise,
 41 Lysis|       and I would rather have a good friend than the best cock
 42 Lysis|         I imagine, is, that the good are like one another, and
 43 Lysis|        apprehend them, that the good only is the friend of the
 44 Lysis|       only is the friend of the good, and of him only; but that
 45 Lysis|         friendship, either with good or evil. Do you agree?~He
 46 Lysis|     argument declares ‘That the good are friends.’~Yes, he said,
 47 Lysis|         matter: Can like do any good or harm to like which he
 48 Lysis|        as he is like; still the good may be the friend of the
 49 Lysis|        may be the friend of the good in so far as he is good?~
 50 Lysis|         good in so far as he is good?~True.~But then again, will
 51 Lysis|        then again, will not the good, in so far as he is good,
 52 Lysis|        good, in so far as he is good, be sufficient for himself?
 53 Lysis|    friendship, if, when absent, good men have no need of one
 54 Lysis| greatest enemy of the like, the good of the good?—Yes, and he
 55 Lysis|       the like, the good of the good?—Yes, and he quoted the
 56 Lysis|         the intemperate, or the good of the bad?~I do not see
 57 Lysis|       not that which is neither good nor evil still in some cases
 58 Lysis|      cases be the friend of the good?~How do you mean? he said.~
 59 Lysis|    souls. For I affirm that the good is the beautiful. You will
 60 Lysis|     notion that what is neither good nor evil is the friend of
 61 Lysis|        of the beautiful and the good, and I will tell you why
 62 Lysis|        are three principles—the good, the bad, and that which
 63 Lysis|       and that which is neither good nor bad. You would agree—
 64 Lysis|       agree.~And neither is the good the friend of the good,
 65 Lysis|      the good the friend of the good, nor the evil of the evil,
 66 Lysis|       evil of the evil, nor the good of the evil;—these alternatives
 67 Lysis|      infer that what is neither good nor evil must be the friend,
 68 Lysis|       the friend, either of the good, or of that which is neither
 69 Lysis|        of that which is neither good nor evil, for nothing can
 70 Lysis|       so, that which is neither good nor evil can have no friend
 71 Lysis|         friend which is neither good nor evil.~Clearly not.~Then
 72 Lysis|     evil.~Clearly not.~Then the good alone is the friend of that
 73 Lysis|      that only which is neither good nor evil.~That may be assumed
 74 Lysis|       and the art of medicine a good and useful thing?~Yes.~But
 75 Lysis|  regarded as a body, is neither good nor evil?~True.~And the
 76 Lysis|      Then that which is neither good nor evil becomes the friend
 77 Lysis|      evil becomes the friend of good, by reason of the presence
 78 Lysis|   before that which was neither good nor evil had become altogether
 79 Lysis|       still desire and love the good; for, as we were saying,
 80 Lysis|     cannot be the friend of the good.~Impossible.~Further, I
 81 Lysis|         another substance.~Very good.~In such a case, is the
 82 Lysis|      Then that which is neither good nor evil may be in the presence
 83 Lysis|       yet evil, the presence of good arouses the desire of good
 84 Lysis|      good arouses the desire of good in that thing; but the presence
 85 Lysis|    desire and friendship of the good; for that which was once
 86 Lysis|        that which was once both good and evil has now become
 87 Lysis|       become evil only, and the good was supposed to have no
 88 Lysis|       wisdom are as yet neither good nor bad. But the bad do
 89 Lysis|        wisdom any more than the good; for, as we have already
 90 Lysis|    presence of evil the neither good nor evil has of the good,
 91 Lysis|        good nor evil has of the good, either in the soul, or
 92 Lysis|         health? I said. Is that good or evil, or neither?~Good,
 93 Lysis|       good or evil, or neither?~Good, he replied.~And we were
 94 Lysis|     that the body being neither good nor evil, because of disease,
 95 Lysis|     medicine, and medicine is a good: and medicine has entered
 96 Lysis|         health, and health is a good.~True.~And is health a friend,
 97 Lysis|      Then that which is neither good nor evil is the friend of
 98 Lysis|       evil is the friend of the good because of the evil and
 99 Lysis|         and for the sake of the good and the friend?~Clearly.~
100 Lysis|      May we then infer that the good is the friend?~I think so.~
101 Lysis|     friend?~I think so.~And the good is loved for the sake of
102 Lysis|        of the three principles, good, evil, and that which is
103 Lysis|       and that which is neither good nor evil, there remained
104 Lysis|         there remained only the good and the neutral, and that
105 Lysis|          as we say, are neither good nor evil in themselves;—
106 Lysis|        in themselves;—would the good be of any use, or other
107 Lysis|       anything that would do us good. Then would be clearly seen
108 Lysis|         but love and desire the good because of the evil, and
109 Lysis|      not this the nature of the good—to be loved by us who are
110 Lysis|      but there is no use in the good for its own sake.~I suppose
111 Lysis|       if our present view holds good.~But, oh! will you tell
112 Lysis|       desire may sometimes be a good and sometimes an evil to
113 Lysis|       desires which are neither good nor evil will remain?~Clearly
114 Lysis|        opinion that the neither good nor evil loves the good
115 Lysis|         good nor evil loves the good because of the evil?~Very
116 Lysis|         we further say that the good is congenial, and the evil
117 Lysis|  congenial to the evil, and the good to the good; and that which
118 Lysis|       evil, and the good to the good; and that which is neither
119 Lysis|       and that which is neither good nor evil to that which is
120 Lysis|        to that which is neither good nor evil?~They agreed to
121 Lysis|         the bad, as well as the good of the good.~That appears
122 Lysis|         well as the good of the good.~That appears to be the
123 Lysis|    congenial is the same as the good, in that case the good and
124 Lysis|      the good, in that case the good and he only will be the
125 Lysis|       will be the friend of the good.~True.~But that too was
126 Lysis|         nor the unlike, nor the good, nor the congenial, nor