MINOS OR ON LAW

a

SOC. What is law to us?
COMP. Which of the laws are you asking about?
SOC. Why? Does one law differ from another law in this very respect, in that it is law? For consider what I happen to be asking you. I am asking, just as if I were asking what gold is, and you were asking me in return which gold I mean, I think you would not be asking correctly. For gold in no way differs from gold, nor stone from stone, insofar as they are stone and insofar as they are gold. And so, in this way, no law differs from any other law, but they are all the same. Each one of them is equally law; one is not more so, and another less so. This is the very thing I am asking: what is law as a whole? If you have it ready, speak.
COMP. What else could law be, Socrates, but what is considered lawful original: "τὰ νομιζόμενα"?
SOC. Does it seem to you that speech is what is spoken, or sight is what is seen, or hearing is what is heard? Or is speech one thing and what is spoken another; and sight one thing and what is seen another; c and hearing one thing and what is heard another, and law one thing and what is considered lawful another? Is it this way, or how does it seem to you?