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and giving back to each what is owed?"
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At that moment, Cephalus excuses himself
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from the dialogue and says, rather abruptly,
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"I have to go out and continue my sacrifices in the garden."
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Socrates, in other words, has broken the bond of tradition and
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traditional authority that holds the ancient city and the ancient
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family together.
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Cephalus is banished from the dialogue.
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Tradition is banished and we never hear another word about it
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for the next 400 or so pages.
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That's the way Socrates begins this dialogue,
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or that's the way Plato has Socrates begin it.