Full Idea
So things are loved by the gods because they are pious, and not pious because they are loved? It seems so.
Gist of Idea
It seems that the gods love things because they are pious, rather than making them pious by loving them
Source
Plato (Euthyphro [c.389 BCE], 10e)
Book Reference
Plato: 'The Last Days of Socrates', ed/tr. Tredennick,Hugh [Penguin 1969], p.31
A Reaction
Socrates' answer to the Euthyphro Question (see Idea 336). The form of piety precedes the gods.
Related Idea
Idea 336 Is what is pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because they love it? (the 'Euthyphro Question') [Plato]