The Last Days of Socrates

“Actually, he seems to me to be starting from the right place, because it is correct to make a priority of young people, taking care that they turn out as well as possible—just as we’d expect a good farmer to tend to his young plants first, and the others only after that.”

Socrates begins Euthyphro by noting that if Meletus’s concern that Socrates corrupts the youth of Athens is sincere, it would be a correct starting point. This could potentially be read as Socrates conceding that the charges themselves, if they were true, would be valid. Corrupting the youth of Athens would indeed be a serious crime. In addition, Socrates employs a domestic analogy, comparing a citizen to “a good farmer” tending to his plants (40). Comparing a just city to a garden, orchard, or field that is in perfect balance, promoting healthy regenerative cycles and ideal fecundity, is a popular analogy in ancient Greece. 

“Consider this sort of question: is what is pious loved by the gods because its pious, or is it pious because it’s loved by them?”

This question Socrates poses to Euthyphro is the first step toward acknowledging that a realm of truth exists beyond what humans can access. It is not clear at this point, but by raising the question, Socrates turns attention toward the unseen and unknown. Humans strive to please the gods, their rituals, prayers, and sacrifices being a means of doing so, but they do not know for certain. Their efforts are ultimately as experimental as Socrates’s method of questioning.