Book 3
5.8
If then, said Socrates, we wanted them to claim money that others held, the best way of egging them on to seize it would be to show them that it was their fathers’ money and belongs to them. As we want them to strive for pre-eminence in virtue, we must show that this belonged to them in old days, and that by striving for it they will surpass all other men.
5.9
How then can we teach this?I think by reminding them that their earliest ancestors of whom we have any account were, as they themselves have been told, the most valiant.
5.10
Do you refer to the judgment of the gods,i.e., between Poseidon and Athena for the possession of Attica. which Cecrops delivered in his court because of his virtue?Yes, and the care and birth of Erectheus,Iliad, II. 547. Ἐρεχθῇος μεγαλήτορος οὕ ποτ᾽ Ἀθήνη θρέψε Διὸς θυγάτηρ, τέκε δὲ ζείδωρος Ἄρουρα. and the war waged in his day with all the adjacent country, and the war between the sons of HeraclesThe Athenians claimed that it was through their assistance that the sons of Heracles gained the victory (Herodotus, ix. 27). and the Peloponnesians, and all the wars waged in the days of Theseus,Against the Amazons and Thracians. in all of which it is manifest that they were champions among the men of their time.
