Lesser Hippias

Socrates turns Hippias’s confidence in his mathematical skill into a puzzle about truth and falsehood. In this short philosophical dialogue attributed to Plato, the two speakers examine whether a person who knows the correct answer is also best equipped to give a deliberately false one. Arithmetic supplies a practical test, and geometry extends the discussion. Their exchange asks how knowledge, ability and goodness fit together, with each answer becoming the starting point for another challenge.

Benjamin Jowett’s translation comes with an introduction that weighs the dialogue’s disputed authorship. It considers ancient references, similarities among Greek dialogues and the problems of assigning an old text to a famous writer. Readers can follow both a compact example of Socratic questioning and an argument about literary evidence. The book suits an interest in ancient philosophy, especially the uneasy relationship between being skilled and being truthful.