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SOC. The law intends, no less, to be the discovery of what is. But as it seems, people who do not always use the same laws are unable to always discover what the law intends, which is what is. For come, let us see if it becomes clear to us from this, whether we always use the same laws or different ones at different times, and whether all people use the same ones or different people use different ones.

COMP. But this, Socrates, is not difficult to know, that neither do the same people always use the same laws, nor do different people use the same ones. For instance, it is not a law for us to sacrifice humans, but rather an act of impiety, yet the Carthaginians sacrifice them as something holy and lawful for them. And some of them even sacrifice their own sons to Kronos a Titan/deity, as you have perhaps heard. And not only do foreigners use different laws than we do, but even those here in Lykaia a region in Arcadia, and the descendants of Athamas a mythological figure, perform such sacrifices, even though they are Greeks. Just as you yourself surely know from hearing what sort of laws we used to follow regarding the dead, by slaughtering sacrificial animals before the funeral procession and sending for the enchytristria a woman who placed the bones of the dead into a vessel. Yet those who lived even earlier than that buried their dead in their own homes. We do nothing of the sort. One could tell countless such things. For there is great latitude in demonstrating that neither do we always hold the same beliefs ourselves, nor do all people hold the same beliefs as one another.

SOC. There is nothing surprising, my excellent friend, if you speak correctly and this has escaped my notice. But as long as you speak of what you believe in a long speech, and I do the same, we shall never come to an agreement, as I suspect. But if the inquiry is set forth in common, perhaps we might agree. If you wish, then, inquire by learning from me while examining it together with me. If, however, you prefer, answer me.