Callicles' reproaches

508dSocratesThese things being so, let us consider what it is that you reproach me with, whether it is rightly said or not: that I, supposedly, am unable to help either myself or any of my friends or relatives, or to save myself or them from the greatest dangers, and that I am at the mercy of anyone who wants, like those without honour at the mercy of whoever is willing, whether he wants to box my ears, to use that swaggering phrase of yours, or to take away my money, or to banish me from the city, or, at the extreme, to kill me. And to be in that condition is the most shameful thing of all, as your argument goes.