Plato

Euthyphro Plato

Euthyphro by Plato. Euthyphro by Plato, is a Socratic dialogue whose events occur in the weeks before the trial of Socrates (399 BC), for which Socrates and Euthyphro attempt to establish a definitive meaning for the word piety (virtue). This Euthyphro and Socrates are represented as meeting in the porch of the King Archon. (Compare Theaet.) Both have legal business in hand. Socrates is defendant in a suit for impiety which Meletus has brought against him (it is remarked by the way that he is not a likely man himself to have brought a suit against another); and Euthyphro too is plaintiff in an action for murder, which he has brought against his own father. The latter has originated in the following manner: -A poor dependant of the family had slain one of their domestic slaves in Naxos. The guilty person was bound and thrown into a ditch by the command of Euthyphro's father, who sent to the interpreters of religion at Athens to ask what should be done with him. Before the messenger came back the criminal had died from hunger and exposure