Plato, Greater Hippias, section 295e

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Epinomis, or Nocturnal Council

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[295e] and that which is in all these aspects useless we say is ugly. Now is not this your opinion also, Hippias?

Hippias
It is.Soc, Then are we right in saying that the useful rather than everything else is beautiful?

Hippias
We are right, surely, Socrates.

Socrates
Now that which has power to accomplish anything is useful for that for which it has power, but that which is powerless is useless, is it not?

Hippias
Certainly.

Socrates
Power, then, is beautiful, and want of power is disgraceful or ugly.

Hippias
Decidedly. Now other things, Socrates,

Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 9 translated by W.R.M. Lamb. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1925.

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