kindly enlighten him with the opinions of Gorgias on this difficult question?
Yes, Meno will tell him. Every age and condition of life has its special virtue. A man's virtue is statesmanship, in which he will guard his own and his country's interests; while "a woman's virtue is to order her house and keep what is within doors, and obey her husband;"—a stay-at-home view of her duties which would find little favour with the modern advocates of female suffrage.
But surely, objects Socrates, justice and temperance are needed by all ages and professions. Must there not be some one common element pervading these separate virtues, which are merely individuals of a class, like colours and figures? Virtue, like health, must be a common quality, though it may take various forms.
Meno then comes to understand that a definition is what is wanted, and accordingly quotes one from the poets. "Virtue is the desire of the honourable, and the power of getting it."
But Socrates is not satisfied with this. You must, he says, get what is honourable with justice (or it would not be virtuous); and justice is a part of virtue.
Meno is puzzled by this, and complains that Socrates is a wizard, and has bewitched him. His arguments are like the shock of the torpedo—they benumb and stupefy. But Socrates declares that he is just as much perplexed himself; he is ready, indeed, to search for the truth, but he knows no more what the truth is than Meno does.
