And yet the COURAGEOUS MAN and the coward alike go to meet that about which they are confident ; so that, in this point of view, the cowardly and the courageous go to meet the same things. PROTAGORAS
But does not the COURAGEOUS MAN also go to meet the better, and pleasanter, and nobler ? PROTAGORAS
And the COURAGEOUS MAN has no base fear or base confidence ? PROTAGORAS
La. I cannot understand what Nicias would be at, Socrates ; for he represents the COURAGEOUS MAN as neither a soothsayer, nor a physician, nor in any other character, unless he means to say that he is a god. My opinion is that he does not like honestly to confess that he is talking nonsense, but that he shuffles up and down in order to conceal the difficulty into which he has got himself. You and I, Socrates, might have practised a similar shuffle just now, if we had only wanted to avoid the appearance of inconsistency. And if we had been arguing in a court of law there might have been reason in so doing ; but why should a man deck himself out with vain words at a meeting of friends such as this ? LACHES
Ath. Then, now hear and judge for yourself : — Would you like to have for a fellow-lodger or neighbour a very COURAGEOUS MAN, who had no control over himself ? LAWS BOOK III