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OCRATES : Tell me then, by Zeus, what is that excellent aim that the gods achieve, using us as their servants?
    E UTHYPHRO : Many fine things, Socrates.
    [14] S OCRATES : So do generals, my friend. Nevertheless you could easily tell me their main concern, which is to achieve victory in war, is it not?
    E UTHYPHRO : Of course.
    S OCRATES : The farmers too, I think, achieve many fine things, but the main point of their efforts is to produce food from the earth.
    E UTHYPHRO : Quite so.
    S OCRATES : Well then, how would you sum up the many fine things that the gods achieve?
    E UTHYPHRO : I told you a short while ago, Socrates, that it is a considerable [b] task to acquire any precise knowledge of these things, but, to put it simply, I say that if a man knows how to say and do what is pleasing to the gods at prayer and sacrifice, those are pious actions such as preserve both private houses and public affairs of state. The opposite of these pleasing actions are impious and overturn and destroy everything.
    S OCRATES : You could tell me in far fewer words, if you were willing, the [c] sum of what I asked, Euthyphro, but you are not keen to teach me, that is clear. You were on the point of doing so, but you turned away. If you had given that answer, I should now have acquired from you sufficient knowledge of the nature of piety. As it is, the lover of inquiry must follow his beloved wherever it may lead him. Once more then, what do you say that piety and the pious are? Are they a knowledge of how to sacrifice and pray?
    E UTHYPHRO : They are.
    S OCRATES : To sacrifice is to make a gift to the gods, whereas to pray is to beg from the gods?
    E UTHYPHRO : Definitely, Socrates.
    [d] S OCRATES : It would follow from this statement that piety would be a knowledge of how to give to, and beg from, the gods.
    E UTHYPHRO : You understood what I said very well, Socrates.
    S OCRATES : That is because I am so desirous of your wisdom, and I concentrate my mind on it, so that no word of yours may fall to the ground. But tell me, what is this service to the gods? You say it is to beg from them and to give to them?
    E UTHYPHRO : I do.
    S OCRATES : And to beg correctly would be to ask from them things that we need?
    E UTHYPHRO : What else?
    [e] S OCRATES : And to give correctly is to give them what they need from us, for it would not be skillful to bring gifts to anyone that are in no way needed.
    E UTHYPHRO : True, Socrates.
    S OCRATES : Piety would then be a sort of trading skill between gods and men?
    E UTHYPHRO : Trading yes, if you prefer to call it that.
    S OCRATES : I prefer nothing, unless it is true. But tell me, what benefit do the gods derive from the gifts they receive from us? What they give us is obvious to all. There is for us no good that we do not receive from them, [15] but how are they benefited by what they receive from us? Or do we have such an advantage over them in the trade that we receive all our blessings from them and they receive nothing from us?
    E UTHYPHRO : Do you suppose, Socrates, that the gods are benefited by what they receive from us?
    S OCRATES : What could those gifts from us to the gods be, Euthyphro?
    E UTHYPHRO : What else, do you think, than honor, reverence, and what I mentioned just now, to please them?
    S OCRATES : The pious is then, Euthyphro, pleasing to the gods, but not [b] beneficial or dear to them?
    E UTHYPHRO : I think it is of all things most dear to them.
    S OCRATES : So the pious is once again what is dear to the gods.
    E UTHYPHRO : Most certainly.
    S OCRATES : When you say this, will you be surprised if your arguments seem to move about instead of staying put? And will you accuse me of being Daedalus who makes them move, though you are yourself much more skillful than Daedalus and make them go round in a circle? Or do you not realize that our argument has moved around and come again to [c] the same place? You surely remember that earlier the pious and the god-loved were shown not to be the same