Whom to envy, whom to pity
PolusAs if you, Socrates, wouldn’t accept being free to do what seems good to you in the city, rather than not being free, and don’t envy anyone when you see him killing whomever it seemed good to him to kill, or taking away property, or putting people in chains!
SocratesJustly, do you mean, or unjustly?
PolusWhichever he does, isn’t it enviable either way?
SocratesHush, Polus.
PolusWhy so?
SocratesBecause one ought not to envy the unenviable, or the wretched either, but to pity them.
PolusWhat? Does it seem to you to be so with the people I’m talking about?
SocratesHow could it not?
PolusSo whoever kills whomever it seems good to him to kill, and kills justly, seems to you wretched and pitiable?
SocratesNot to me; though not enviable either.
PolusDidn’t you say just now that he was wretched?
SocratesThe one who kills unjustly, my dear friend, yes—and pitiable into the bargain; but the one who kills justly, unenviable.
PolusThe one who is put to death unjustly, at any rate, is surely pitiable and wretched.