SOCRATES: Oh, but it is! For instance, here is another metaphysical assumption that you make. It comes in the passage where you criticize the traditional value of generosity, a moral value praised highly by both pagan and Christian, for instance by Aristotle in the Nicomachean Ethics and by Jesus in the Gospels. You say: There is nothing so self-defeating as generosity, for the more generous you are, the less you are able to be generous. Generosity leads to poverty and disgrace,* or, if you try to