EUTH. What do you suppose, other than praise and honor and as I just said, things
which are acceptable.

SOC.  Then the holy is what is acceptable, Euthyphro, and not what is beneficial or
loved by the gods?

EUTH. I certainly think it is loved by the gods, beyond all other things.

SOC.  Then, on the contrary, the holy is what is loved by the gods.

EUTH. Yes, that beyond anything.

SOC.  Will it surprise you if,   in saying this,   your words get up and walk?  You call me
a Daedalus.   You say I make them walk.  But I say that you are a good deal
more skillful than Daedalus, for you make them walk in circles.  Or are you not
aware that our account has gone round and come back again to the same place?
19

Surely you remember in what went before that the holy appeared to us not to
be the same as what is loved by the gods: the two were different.  Do you
recall?

EUTH. Yes, I recall.

SOC.  Then do you not now realize that you are saying that what is loved by the gods
is holy?  But the holy in fact is something other than dear to the gods, is it not?

EUTH. Yes.

SOC.  Then either we were wrong a moment ago in agreeing to that, or, if we were
right in assuming it then, we are wrong in what we are saying now.

EUT H. It seems so.

X.  Conclusion

SOC.  Let us begin again from the beginning, and ask what the holy is, for I shall not
willingly give up until I learn.   Please do not scorn me: Bend every effort of
your mind and now tell me the truth.   You know it if any man  does, and, like
Proteus, you must not be let go before you speak.  For if you did not know the
holy and unholy with certainty, you could not possibly undertake to prosecute
your aged father for murder in behalf of a hired man.  You would fear to risk
the go ds, lest your action be wrongful, and you would be ashamed before men.
But as it is, I am confident that you think you know with certainty what is holy
and what is not.   So say it, friend Euthyphro.  Do not conceal what it is you
believe.

EUTH. Some other t ime, Socrates.   Right now I must hurry somewhere and I am
already late.

SOC.  What are you doing, my friend! You leave me and cast me down from my high
hope that I should learn from you what things are holy and what are not, and
escape the indictment of Mel etus by showing him that, due to Euthyphro, I
am now wise in religious matters, that I no longer ignorantly indulge in loose
speech and innovation, and most especially, that I shall live better the rest of
my life.

This version of the Euthyphro is, of course, not my translation. It was composed
in 1986 by comparing and modifying for readability a number of published
translations , whose authors should be credited .  However,  the record of which
translations were used was long ago lost.