Eryxias

A Syracusan envoy passes beneath the portico of Zeus, and Erasistratus points him out as the richest man in Sicily—and the wickedest. Socrates wants to know: can such a man truly be called rich?

In this dialogue, Socrates, Eryxias, Erasistratus and Critias meet in Athens after Erasistratus has returned from Sicily, where wealth means vast estates, gold, silver and countless possessions. But Socrates turns the conversation toward what those riches are worth: a healthy body may matter more than a king’s fortune, and wisdom may be worth more than a mansion. As the companions debate whether wealth is a blessing or a danger, their claims grow harder to settle—and the meaning of being rich begins to shift. What possession, in the end, makes a person truly wealthy?

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