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[521d] for no honest man would prosecute a person who had done no wrong; and it would be no marvel if I were put to death. Would you like me to tell you my reason for expecting this?

Callicles
Do, by all means.

Socrates
I think I am one of few, not to say the only one, in Athens who attempts the true art of statesmanship, and the only man of the present time who manages affairs of state: hence, as the speeches that I make from time to time are not aimed at gratification, but at what is best instead of what is most pleasant, and as I do not care to deal in “these pretty toys”1 that you recommend,


1 Socrates retorts the phrase of Euripides, which Callicles applied (above, Plat. Gorg. 486c) to philosophic debate, upon the practical pursuits which Callicles recommended.

Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 3 translated by W.R.M. Lamb. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1967.

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  • Commentary references to this page (5):
    • Gonzalez Lodge, Commentary on Plato: Gorgias, 42
    • Gonzalez Lodge, Commentary on Plato: Gorgias, 464c
    • Gonzalez Lodge, Commentary on Plato: Gorgias, 527d
    • James Adam, The Republic of Plato, 6.488D
    • James Adam, The Republic of Plato, 9.592B
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  • Cross-references in notes from this page (1):
    • Plato, Gorgias, 486c
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