SOCRATES: I have certainly often enquired whether there were any, and
taken great pains to find them, and have never succeeded; and many have
assisted me in the search, and they were the persons whom I thought the
most likely to know. Here at the moment when he is wanted we fortunately
have sitting by us Anytus, the very person of whom we should make enquiry;
to him then let us repair. In the first place, he is the son of a wealthy
and wise father, Anthemion, who acquired his wealth, not by accident or
gift, like Ismenias the Theban (who has recently made himself as rich as
Polycrates), but by his own skill and industry, and who is a well-
conditioned, modest man, not insolent, or overbearing, or annoying;
moreover, this son of his has received a good education, as the Athenian
people certainly appear to think, for they choose him to fill the highest
offices. And these are the sort of men from whom you are likely to learn
whether there are any teachers of virtue, and who they are. Please,
Anytus, to help me and your friend Meno in answering our question, Who are
the teachers? Consider the matter thus: If we wanted Meno to be a good
physician, to whom should we send him? Should we not send him to the
physicians?

ANYTUS: Certainly.

SOCRATES: Or if we wanted him to be a good cobbler, should we not send him
to the cobblers?

ANYTUS: Yes.

SOCRATES: And so forth?

ANYTUS: Yes.

SOCRATES: Let me trouble you with one more question. When we say that we
should be right in sending him to the physicians if we wanted him to be a
physician, do we mean that we should be right in sending him to those who
profess the art, rather than to those who do not, and to those who demand
payment for teaching the art, and profess to teach it to any one who will
come and learn? And if these were our reasons, should we not be right in
sending him?

ANYTUS: Yes.

SOCRATES: And might not the same be said of flute-playing, and of the
other arts? Would a man who wanted to make another a flute-player refuse
to send him to those who profess to teach the art for money, and be
plaguing other persons to give him instruction, who are not professed
teachers and who never had a single disciple in that branch of knowledge
which he wishes him to acquire--would not such conduct be the height of
folly?

ANYTUS: Yes, by Zeus, and of ignorance too.

SOCRATES: Very good. And now you are in a position to advise with me
about my friend Meno. He has been telling me, Anytus, that he desires to
attain that kind of wisdom and virtue by which men order the state or the
house, and honour their parents, and know when to receive and when to send
away citizens and strangers, as a good man should. Now, to whom should he
go in order that he may learn this virtue? Does not the previous argument
imply clearly that we should send him to those who profess and avouch that
they are the common teachers of all Hellas, and are ready to impart
instruction to any one who likes, at a fixed price?

ANYTUS: Whom do you mean, Socrates?

SOCRATES: You surely know, do you not, Anytus, that these are the people
whom mankind call Sophists?

ANYTUS: By Heracles, Socrates, forbear! I only hope that no friend or
kinsman or acquaintance of mine, whether citizen or stranger, will ever be
so mad as to allow himself to be corrupted by them; for they are a manifest
pest and corrupting influence to those who have to do with them.

SOCRATES: What, Anytus? Of all the people who profess that they know how
to do men good, do you mean to say that these are the only ones who not
only do them no good, but positively corrupt those who are entrusted to
them, and in return for this disservice have the face to demand money?
Indeed, I cannot believe you; for I know of a single man, Protagoras, who
made more out of his craft than the illustrious Pheidias, who created such
noble works, or any ten other statuaries. How could that be? A mender of
old shoes, or patcher up of clothes, who made the shoes or clothes worse
than he received them, could not have remained thirty days undetected, and
would very soon have starved; whereas during more than forty years,
Protagoras was corrupting all Hellas, and sending his disciples from him
worse than he received them, and he was never found out. For, if I am not
mistaken, he was about seventy years old at his death, forty of which were
spent in the practice of his profession; and during all that time he had a
good reputation, which to this day he retains: and not only Protagoras,
but many others are well spoken of; some who lived before him, and others
who are still living. Now, when you say that they deceived and corrupted
the youth, are they to be supposed to have corrupted them consciously or
unconsciously? Can those who were deemed by many to be the wisest men of
Hellas have been out of their minds?

ANYTUS: Out of their minds! No, Socrates; the young men who gave their
money to them were out of their minds, and their relations and guardians
who entrusted their youth to the care of these men were still more out of
their minds, and most of all, the cities who allowed them to come in, and
did not drive them out, citizen and stranger alike.

SOCRATES: Has any of the Sophists wronged you, Anytus? What makes you so
angry with them?


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