Eryxias is a Socratic dialogue

Socratic dialogue

Socratic dialogue is a genre of prose literary works developed in Greece at the turn of the fourth century BC, preserved today in the dialogues of Plato and the Socratic works of Xenophon - either dramatic or narrative - in which characters discuss moral and philosophical problems, illustrating a...

 attributed to Plato

Plato

Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...

, but which is considered spurious. It is set in the Stoa of Zeus Eleutherios

Stoa of Zeus

The Stoa of Zeus at Athens, was a two-aisled stoa located in the northwest corner of the Ancient Agora of Athens. It was built circa 425 BC–410 BC for religious purposes in dedication to Zeus by the Eleutherios : a cult founded after the Persian War...

, and features Socrates

Socrates

Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...

 in conversation with Critias

Critias

Critias , born in Athens, son of Callaeschrus, was an uncle of Plato, and a leading member of the Thirty Tyrants, and one of the most violent. He was an associate of Socrates, a fact that did not endear Socrates to the Athenian public. He was noted in his day for his tragedies, elegies and prose...

, Eryxias, and Erasistratus (nephew of Phaeax

Phaeax (orator)

Phaeax was an Athenian orator and statesman. He was of good famity, being the son of Erasistratus. The date of his birth is not known, but he was a contemporary of Nicias and Alcibiades. Plutarch says, that he and Nicias were the only rivals from whom Alcibiades had any thing to fear when he...

).

The dialogue concerns the topic of wealth

Wealth

Wealth is the abundance of valuable resources or material possessions. The word wealth is derived from the old English wela, which is from an Indo-European word stem...

 and virtue

Virtue

Virtue is moral excellence. A virtue is a positive trait or quality subjectively deemed to be morally excellent and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being....

. The position of Eryxias that it is good to be materially prosperous is defeated when Critias argues that having money is not always a good thing. Socrates then shows that money has only a conventional value. In an argument addressed to Critias, Socrates concludes that money can never be considered useful, even when it is used to buy something useful. The final conclusion of the Eryxias is that the most wealthy are the most wretched because they have so many material wants.

External links

• Eryxias, translated with an introduction by Benjamin Jowett
  Benjamin Jowett
  Benjamin Jowett was renowned as an influential tutor and administrative reformer in the University of Oxford, a theologian and translator of Plato. He was Master of Balliol College, Oxford.-Early career:...