Let me invite you to read one of the dialogues.  Euthyphro is often called a difficult dialogue. The discussion is hard to follow, and the topic is tough to figure out.  It’s claimed the dialogue was Plato’s first attempt to use his theory of forms. And many fine distinctions are supposedly made to illustrate the theory.

Perhaps.

I have tried to approach the dialogues without preconceptions. My only goal is to make clear what Plato tried to say, without fancy language, or complicated sentences. My translation goes quickly to the kernel of the argument, and does not puff up sentences with linguistic complications that are not really to be found in the Greek. The result is an easily understood dialogue that makes Plato’s point, and is actually sort of fun.

If you like this dialogue, you’ll probably like the others dialogues in Plato Unmasked. They are full of incredible ideas and wonderful arguments. Every educated person should know them. Shakespeare is a gift to the English-speaking world. Plato is a gift to the whole world.

Here is Euthyphro:

The Charge Against Socrates

Euthyphro: Socrates, what are you doing at the courthouse?

Socrates: I’ve been indicted by Meletus.

Euthyphro: For what?

Socrates: He says I’ve corrupted the youth.

Euthyphro: How?

Socrates: By inventing new gods and discarding the old ones.

Euthyphro: I bet I know the source of the charge. It’s that divine sign you get.  I’m a prophet myself. My predictions always come true.  But when I talk about this in the assembly, or about anything divine, I get laughed down.  They’re fools.

Euthyprho’s Charge Against His Father

Socrates: Why are you at the court?

Euthyphro: I’m prosecuting my father for murder.

Socrates: What!

Euthyphro: You know our farm on Naxos Island.  Well, our foreman got drunk and killed a house slave.  My father seized the foreman, bound him, and threw him in a ditch. Then he sent a messenger to Athens to get religious advice on what to do. It took longer than expected.   The foreman died in the ditch from hunger and exposure.  So I’ve charged my father with murder. My family is outraged, but I know what’s right.

Socrates: Charging your own father. Most people would think that was unholy.

Euthyphro: Not in this case.  Zeus, if you recall, punished his own father for evil deeds.¹ I’m doing the same thing.

Socrates: You believe those stories about gods fighting each other and quarreling all the time?

Euthyphro: I do.  And many other things. I know all about divine matters—what’s holy and unholy.

Socrates: Hey, maybe you can help me with my case.  Be my teacher.  Explain these things to me.  Then when I’m facing the jury I can say I have the correct views on religion because I learned them from you.  And if they still question my views, I can blame you, since you’re my teacher.  Then they can charge you with corrupting the old.

Euthyphro: Anything to help.

Holy: What Is Dear to the Gods

Socrates: So what’s holy?

Euthyphro: Whatever is dear to the gods. And whatever they hate is unholy.

Socrates: Really? What do the gods hold dear? Wait. It can’t be just anything.  Oh, I know.  You say they’re quarreling all the time.  So it must be over morals.  That’s what really gets people going.

Euthyphro: That makes sense.

Socrates: So the gods love what’s right and hate what’s evil?

Euthyphro: That’s it!
                                        
  ¹   In Greek mythology, the god Cronos castrated his father, Uranos. Fearing his own children might do the same to him, Cronos gobbled them up at birth. But his wife tricked him when Zeus was born. She hid Zeus and gave Cronos a stone to swallow. Later, when Zeus was grown, he took revenge for his siblings, imprisoned Cronos, and assumed his father’s position as the preeminent god.

Socrates: That quarreling thing bothers me, though.

Euthyphro: What do you mean?

        Socrates: Well, if the gods quarrel about morals, it means some of them think one thing right while others think it evil.  

Euthyphro: Seems so.

Socrates: But you say they love right and hate evil. But if they quarrel over these things, they must love and hate the same thing.

&Euthyphro: Umm, looks that way.

Socrates: And if the holy is what they love and the unholy what they hate, it turns out the same thing is both holy and unholy.  That’s a contradiction.

Euthyphro: I didn’t see that coming.

Holy: Benefiting the Gods

Euthyphro: Let me think.  How about this? Holiness is attending to the gods.

Socrates: You mean sacrifices and prayer.

Euthyphro: That’s right.

Socrates: And we do this for the gods’ benefit?

Euthyphro: Right!

Socrates: Benefiting something is making it better, isn’t it?

Euthyphro: Yes.

Socrates: Then this new definition won’t do either.

Euthyphro: Why?

Socrates: It’s sacrilegious.

Euthyphro: What?

Socrates: It makes the gods imperfect.

Euthyphro: That can’t be. 

Socrates: We certainly couldn’t make the gods better if they were already perfect. So they must be defective.

Euthyphro: Well that’s not what I meant.

Holy: Bartering with the Gods

Euthyphro: That’s it. It’s bartering.

Socrates: But what do we have to barter that the gods want?

Euthyphro: They love our praise, for it’s dear to them.

Socrates: So the holy is what’s dear to the gods. Sound familiar?

Euthyphro: Umm. Listen, Socrates. I’d love to stay and chat, but I’m a busy man and have pressing matters.

Socrates: Wait! Don’t go.  What about my case with Meletus? I need your wisdom, if I’m going to get off.