| Plato, Republic (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose] [word count] [lemma count] [Pl. Resp.]. | ||
| <<Pl. Resp. 588a | Pl. Resp. 589d (Greek) | >>Pl. Resp. 591d |
589abut to starve the man note and so enfeeble him that he can be pulled about note whithersoever either of the others drag him, and not to familiarize or reconcile with one another the two creatures but suffer them to bite and fight and devour one another. note” “Yes,” he said, “that is precisely what the panegyrist of injustice will be found to say.” “And on the other hand he who says that justice is the more profitable affirms that all our actions and words should tend to give the man within us note
589bcomplete domination note over the entire man and make him take charge note of the many-headed beast—like a farmer note who cherishes and trains the cultivated plants but checks the growth of the wild—and he will make an ally note of the lion's nature, and caring for all the beasts alike will first make them friendly to one another and to himself, and so foster their growth.” “Yes, that in turn is precisely the meaning of the man who commends justice.” “From every point of view, then, the panegyrist of justice
589cspeaks truly and the panegyrist of injustice falsely. For whether we consider pleasure, reputation, or profit, he who commends justice speaks the truth, while there is no soundness or real knowledge of what he censures in him who disparages it.” “None whatever, I think,” said he. “Shall we, then, try to persuade him gently, note for he does not willingly err, note by questioning him thus: Dear friend, should we not also say that the things which law and custom deem fair or foul have been accounted so for a like reason—
589dthe fair and honorable things being those that subject the brutish part of our nature to that which is human in us, or rather, it may be, to that which is divine, note while the foul and base are the things that enslave the gentle nature to the wild? Will he assent or not?” “He will if he is counselled by me.” “Can it profit any man in the light of this thought to accept gold unjustly if the result is to be that by the acceptance he enslaves the best part of himself to the worst?
589eOr is it conceivable that, while, if the taking of the gold enslaved his son or daughter and that too to fierce and evil men, it would not profit him, note no matter how large the sum, yet that, if the result is to be the ruthless enslavement of the divinest part of himself to the most despicable and godless part, he is not to be deemed wretched
590aand is not taking the golden bribe much more disastrously than Eriphyle note did when she received the necklace as the price note of her husband's life?” “Far more,” said Glaucon, “for I will answer you in his behalf.”
“And do you not think that the reason for the old objection to licentiousness is similarly because that sort of thing emancipates that dread, note that huge and manifold beast overmuch?” “Obviously,” he said. “And do we not censure self-will note
590band irascibility when they foster and intensify disproportionately the element of the lion and the snake note in us?” “By all means.” “And do we not reprobate luxury and effeminacy for their loosening and relaxation of this same element when they engender cowardice in it?” “Surely.” “And flattery and illiberality when they reduce this same high-spirited element under the rule of the mob-like beast and habituate it for the sake of wealth and the unbridled lusts of the beast to endure all manner of contumely from youth up and become an ape note instead of a lion?” 590c“Yes, indeed,” he said. “And why do you suppose that ‘base mechanic’ note handicraft is a term of reproach? Shall we not say that it is solely when the best part is naturally weak in a man so that it cannot govern and control the brood of beasts within him but can only serve them and can learn nothing but the ways of flattering them?” “So it seems,” he said. “Then is it not in order that such an one may have a like government with the best man that we say he ought to be the slave 590dof that best man note who has within himself the divine governing principle, not because we suppose, as Thrasymachus note did in the case of subjects, that the slave should be governed for his own harm, but on the ground that it is better for everyone to be governed by the divine and the intelligent, preferably indwelling and his own, but in default of that imposed from without, in order that we all so far as possible may be akin and friendly because our governance and guidance are the same?” “Yes, and rightly so,” he said. 590e“And it is plain,” I said, “that this is the purpose of the law, which is the ally of all classes in the state, and this is the aim of our control of children, note our not leaving them free before we have established, so to speak, a constitutional government within them note and, by fostering the best element in them| Plato, Republic (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose] [word count] [lemma count] [Pl. Resp.]. | ||
| <<Pl. Resp. 588a | Pl. Resp. 589d (Greek) | >>Pl. Resp. 591d |
