_Eternal Truths_
In the _Memorabilia_ Xenophon tells of the meeting of Socrates with
the famous sophist Hippias. When Hippias came to Socrates, the latter
as usual held forth, and as usual asked why it is that men who wish to
learn carpentry or smith's work know to whom they should apply, but if
they desire to learn virtue, cannot possibly find a teacher. Hippias,
who had heard these opinions of Socrates many times before, remarked
ironically: 'So you're still saying the same old things, that I heard
from you years ago!' Socrates understood and accepted the challenge, as
he always accepted challenges of this kind. A dispute began, by which
it was demonstrated (as usual in Plato and Xenophon) that Socrates was
a stronger dialectician than his opponent. He succeeded in showing that
his conception of justice was based on the same firm foundation as all
his other conceptions, and that convictions once formed, if they are
true, are as little liable to the action of time as noble metals to
rust.
Socrates lived seventy years. He was once a youth, once a man, once
a greybeard. But what if he had lived a hundred and forty years,
experienced once again all the three seasons of life, and had again met
Hippias? Or, better still, if the soul, as Socrates taught, is immortal
and Socrates now lives somewhere in the moon or Sirius, or in any other
place predestined for immortal souls, does he really go on plaguing his
companions with discourses on justice, carpenters, and smiths? And does
he still emerge victorious as of old from the dispute with Hippias and
other persons who dare to affirm that everything (human convictions
included) may be, and ought to be, subject to the laws of time, and
that mankind not only loses nothing, but gains much by such subjection?