Euthyphro (Part IV)

Socrates:   What is the crime, and why do you accuse him?

Euthyphro: Of murder, Socrates.

Socrates: O Heracles! The many, Euthyphro, will be ignorant of what is right. For I do not think it is the charge of any casual person to make such an accusation with rectitude but of one who has achieved very great proficiency in wisdom.

Euthyphro: Very great indeed, by Zeus, Socrates.

Socrates:   Is it one of your relations that has been killed by your father? Though, it certainly must be so, for you would not prosecute your father for the murder of a stranger.

Euthyphro: It is ridiculous, Socrates, if you think it makes any difference whether he who is slain is a stranger or a relation, and you are not persuaded that the only consideration is whether he who committed the murder did it justly or not. If justly, he should be dismissed; if unjustly, he should be prosecuted, even though he is of your own house and eats at the same table. For you become equally defiled with him if you knowingly associate with such a one and do not expiate both yourself and him, by bringing him to justice.

To inform you of the facts: The deceased was one of our farmers who rented land from us when we lived in Naxos. This man, having one day drank too much wine, was so overcome with rage against one of our slaves that he killed him. My father, therefore, ordered him to be thrown into a pit, with his hands and feet bound and immediately sent somebody here to consult one of the interpreters of sacred concerns to find out what he should do with him. In the meantime, the prisoner was neglected and left without sustenance, as if his life was of no consequence, and he died. Hunger, cold, and the weight of chains killed him before the person my father had sent returned.

Hence, my father and the rest of my relations are indignant with me because I, for the sake of the killing of one person by another, accuse my father of murder, which they say he has not committed. And, if he had, since he who is dead was a killer, they think I ought not to be concerned for the fate of such a man.

For, they say it is impious for a son to prosecute his father for murder. So little do they know about the manner in which divine nature is affected by piety and impiety.

Plato, The Euthyphro

O Heracles! - Socrates is illustrating the momentousness of the task in hand, and there is no more fitting way to do so.

In ancient Greece, parents were revered and regarded with a level of respect just below that of the gods. Honouring one’s parents and ancestors was seen as essential to maintaining a harmonious family and society.

Think about Euthyphro's narrative, and the significance of the island of Naxos is worth a little reading.

Euthyphro is relatively young and lacks wisdom; this ordeal highlights intergenerational conflict and the breakdown of traditional family and societal values in Athens at that time.

Euthyphro and Socrates are to be found in the same place at the same time. Think about their location, reasons and respective positions.

Note from the editor of Classical Philosophy