Out of Homer’s two poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, Hippias thinks the Iliad is the better poem. This is because the main character of the Iliad, Achilles, consistently aims to tell the truth but sometimes unintentionally lies. The main character of the Odyssey, Odysseus, on the other hand, intentionally lies.
Socrates thinks that Odysseus is the better man because he intentionally lies, while Achilles is the lesser man because he unintentionally lies. To Socrates, ethics is just another art, like archery. An archer who consistently misses the mark is better than an archer who accidentally hits the mark because the archer who consistently misses is so skilled that he doesn’t rely on chance. If he can consistently miss, then he could also consistently hit the mark if he so wished. The archer who accidentally misses is the lesser archer because it follows that he would also accidentally hit the mark.
It’s hard to argue with this logic, and Hippias doesn’t attempt to do so. He simply decides that he doesn’t agree with Socrates. Most of us would do the same. We know that someone who tries to do right but doesn’t hit the mark 100% of the time is better than someone who is so good at doing wrong that they never err at it. If a skilled evildoer decides to do right, they will perform better than the unskilled do-gooder. But for Socrates to call the skilled evildoer who has not converted to doing good the better person than the unskilled do-gooder is confusing unless Socrates is prioritizing the skills a person possesses over the consequences those skills lead to.
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