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diff --git a/1738-h/1738-h.htm b/1738-h/1738-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..613710f --- /dev/null +++ b/1738-h/1738-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6077 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Statesman, by Plato + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Statesman, by Plato + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Statesman + +Author: Plato + +Translator: Benjamin Jowett + +Release Date: November 7, 2008 [EBook #1738] +Last Updated: January 15, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STATESMAN *** + + + + +Produced by Sue Asscher, and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + STATESMAN + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Plato + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + Translated by Benjamin Jowett + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + Contents + </h3> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_INTR"> INTRODUCTION AND ANALYSIS. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> STATESMAN </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_INTR" id="link2H_INTR"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + INTRODUCTION AND ANALYSIS. + </h2> + <p> + In the Phaedrus, the Republic, the Philebus, the Parmenides, and the + Sophist, we may observe the tendency of Plato to combine two or more + subjects or different aspects of the same subject in a single dialogue. In + the Sophist and Statesman especially we note that the discussion is partly + regarded as an illustration of method, and that analogies are brought from + afar which throw light on the main subject. And in his later writings + generally we further remark a decline of style, and of dramatic power; the + characters excite little or no interest, and the digressions are apt to + overlay the main thesis; there is not the 'callida junctura' of an + artistic whole. Both the serious discussions and the jests are sometimes + out of place. The invincible Socrates is withdrawn from view; and new foes + begin to appear under old names. Plato is now chiefly concerned, not with + the original Sophist, but with the sophistry of the schools of philosophy, + which are making reasoning impossible; and is driven by them out of the + regions of transcendental speculation back into the path of common sense. + A logical or psychological phase takes the place of the doctrine of Ideas + in his mind. He is constantly dwelling on the importance of regular + classification, and of not putting words in the place of things. He has + banished the poets, and is beginning to use a technical language. He is + bitter and satirical, and seems to be sadly conscious of the realities of + human life. Yet the ideal glory of the Platonic philosophy is not + extinguished. He is still looking for a city in which kings are either + philosophers or gods (compare Laws). + </p> + <p> + The Statesman has lost the grace and beauty of the earlier dialogues. The + mind of the writer seems to be so overpowered in the effort of thought as + to impair his style; at least his gift of expression does not keep up with + the increasing difficulty of his theme. The idea of the king or statesman + and the illustration of method are connected, not like the love and + rhetoric of the Phaedrus, by 'little invisible pegs,' but in a confused + and inartistic manner, which fails to produce any impression of a whole on + the mind of the reader. Plato apologizes for his tediousness, and + acknowledges that the improvement of his audience has been his only aim in + some of his digressions. His own image may be used as a motto of his + style: like an inexpert statuary he has made the figure or outline too + large, and is unable to give the proper colours or proportions to his + work. He makes mistakes only to correct them—this seems to be his + way of drawing attention to common dialectical errors. The Eleatic + stranger, here, as in the Sophist, has no appropriate character, and + appears only as the expositor of a political ideal, in the delineation of + which he is frequently interrupted by purely logical illustrations. The + younger Socrates resembles his namesake in nothing but a name. The + dramatic character is so completely forgotten, that a special reference is + twice made to discussions in the Sophist; and this, perhaps, is the + strongest ground which can be urged for doubting the genuineness of the + work. But, when we remember that a similar allusion is made in the Laws to + the Republic, we see that the entire disregard of dramatic propriety is + not always a sufficient reason for doubting the genuineness of a Platonic + writing. + </p> + <p> + The search after the Statesman, which is carried on, like that for the + Sophist, by the method of dichotomy, gives an opportunity for many + humorous and satirical remarks. Several of the jests are mannered and + laboured: for example, the turn of words with which the dialogue opens; or + the clumsy joke about man being an animal, who has a power of two-feet—both + which are suggested by the presence of Theodorus, the geometrician. There + is political as well as logical insight in refusing to admit the division + of mankind into Hellenes and Barbarians: 'if a crane could speak, he would + in like manner oppose men and all other animals to cranes.' The pride of + the Hellene is further humbled, by being compared to a Phrygian or Lydian. + Plato glories in this impartiality of the dialectical method, which places + birds in juxtaposition with men, and the king side by side with the + bird-catcher; king or vermin-destroyer are objects of equal interest to + science (compare Parmen.). There are other passages which show that the + irony of Socrates was a lesson which Plato was not slow in learning—as, + for example, the passing remark, that 'the kings and statesmen of our day + are in their breeding and education very like their subjects;' or the + anticipation that the rivals of the king will be found in the class of + servants; or the imposing attitude of the priests, who are the established + interpreters of the will of heaven, authorized by law. Nothing is more + bitter in all his writings than his comparison of the contemporary + politicians to lions, centaurs, satyrs, and other animals of a feebler + sort, who are ever changing their forms and natures. But, as in the later + dialogues generally, the play of humour and the charm of poetry have + departed, never to return. + </p> + <p> + Still the Politicus contains a higher and more ideal conception of + politics than any other of Plato's writings. The city of which there is a + pattern in heaven (Republic), is here described as a Paradisiacal state of + human society. In the truest sense of all, the ruler is not man but God; + and such a government existed in a former cycle of human history, and may + again exist when the gods resume their care of mankind. In a secondary + sense, the true form of government is that which has scientific rulers, + who are irresponsible to their subjects. Not power but knowledge is the + characteristic of a king or royal person. And the rule of a man is better + and higher than law, because he is more able to deal with the infinite + complexity of human affairs. But mankind, in despair of finding a true + ruler, are willing to acquiesce in any law or custom which will save them + from the caprice of individuals. They are ready to accept any of the six + forms of government which prevail in the world. To the Greek, nomos was a + sacred word, but the political idealism of Plato soars into a region + beyond; for the laws he would substitute the intelligent will of the + legislator. Education is originally to implant in men's minds a sense of + truth and justice, which is the divine bond of states, and the legislator + is to contrive human bonds, by which dissimilar natures may be united in + marriage and supply the deficiencies of one another. As in the Republic, + the government of philosophers, the causes of the perversion of states, + the regulation of marriages, are still the political problems with which + Plato's mind is occupied. He treats them more slightly, partly because the + dialogue is shorter, and also because the discussion of them is + perpetually crossed by the other interest of dialectic, which has begun to + absorb him. + </p> + <p> + The plan of the Politicus or Statesman may be briefly sketched as follows: + (1) By a process of division and subdivision we discover the true herdsman + or king of men. But before we can rightly distinguish him from his rivals, + we must view him, (2) as he is presented to us in a famous ancient tale: + the tale will also enable us to distinguish the divine from the human + herdsman or shepherd: (3) and besides our fable, we must have an example; + for our example we will select the art of weaving, which will have to be + distinguished from the kindred arts; and then, following this pattern, we + will separate the king from his subordinates or competitors. (4) But are + we not exceeding all due limits; and is there not a measure of all arts + and sciences, to which the art of discourse must conform? There is; but + before we can apply this measure, we must know what is the aim of + discourse: and our discourse only aims at the dialectical improvement of + ourselves and others.—Having made our apology, we return once more + to the king or statesman, and proceed to contrast him with pretenders in + the same line with him, under their various forms of government. (5) His + characteristic is, that he alone has science, which is superior to law and + written enactments; these do but spring out of the necessities of mankind, + when they are in despair of finding the true king. (6) The sciences which + are most akin to the royal are the sciences of the general, the judge, the + orator, which minister to him, but even these are subordinate to him. (7) + Fixed principles are implanted by education, and the king or statesman + completes the political web by marrying together dissimilar natures, the + courageous and the temperate, the bold and the gentle, who are the warp + and the woof of society. + </p> + <p> + The outline may be filled up as follows:— + </p> + <p> + SOCRATES: I have reason to thank you, Theodorus, for the acquaintance of + Theaetetus and the Stranger. + </p> + <p> + THEODORUS: And you will have three times as much reason to thank me when + they have delineated the Statesman and Philosopher, as well as the + Sophist. + </p> + <p> + SOCRATES: Does the great geometrician apply the same measure to all three? + Are they not divided by an interval which no geometrical ratio can + express? + </p> + <p> + THEODORUS: By the god Ammon, Socrates, you are right; and I am glad to see + that you have not forgotten your geometry. But before I retaliate on you, + I must request the Stranger to finish the argument... + </p> + <p> + The Stranger suggests that Theaetetus shall be allowed to rest, and that + Socrates the younger shall respond in his place; Theodorus agrees to the + suggestion, and Socrates remarks that the name of the one and the face of + the other give him a right to claim relationship with both of them. They + propose to take the Statesman after the Sophist; his path they must + determine, and part off all other ways, stamping upon them a single + negative form (compare Soph.). + </p> + <p> + The Stranger begins the enquiry by making a division of the arts and + sciences into theoretical and practical—the one kind concerned with + knowledge exclusively, and the other with action; arithmetic and the + mathematical sciences are examples of the former, and carpentering and + handicraft arts of the latter (compare Philebus). Under which of the two + shall we place the Statesman? Or rather, shall we not first ask, whether + the king, statesman, master, householder, practise one art or many? As the + adviser of a physician may be said to have medical science and to be a + physician, so the adviser of a king has royal science and is a king. And + the master of a large household may be compared to the ruler of a small + state. Hence we conclude that the science of the king, statesman, and + householder is one and the same. And this science is akin to knowledge + rather than to action. For a king rules with his mind, and not with his + hands. + </p> + <p> + But theoretical science may be a science either of judging, like + arithmetic, or of ruling and superintending, like that of the architect or + master-builder. And the science of the king is of the latter nature; but + the power which he exercises is underived and uncontrolled,—a + characteristic which distinguishes him from heralds, prophets, and other + inferior officers. He is the wholesale dealer in command, and the herald, + or other officer, retails his commands to others. Again, a ruler is + concerned with the production of some object, and objects may be divided + into living and lifeless, and rulers into the rulers of living and + lifeless objects. And the king is not like the master-builder, concerned + with lifeless matter, but has the task of managing living animals. And the + tending of living animals may be either a tending of individuals, or a + managing of herds. And the Statesman is not a groom, but a herdsman, and + his art may be called either the art of managing a herd, or the art of + collective management:—Which do you prefer? 'No matter.' Very good, + Socrates, and if you are not too particular about words you will be all + the richer some day in true wisdom. But how would you subdivide the + herdsman's art? 'I should say, that there is one management of men, and + another of beasts.' Very good, but you are in too great a hurry to get to + man. All divisions which are rightly made should cut through the middle; + if you attend to this rule, you will be more likely to arrive at classes. + 'I do not understand the nature of my mistake.' Your division was like a + division of the human race into Hellenes and Barbarians, or into Lydians + or Phrygians and all other nations, instead of into male and female; or + like a division of number into ten thousand and all other numbers, instead + of into odd and even. And I should like you to observe further, that + though I maintain a class to be a part, there is no similar necessity for + a part to be a class. But to return to your division, you spoke of men and + other animals as two classes—the second of which you comprehended + under the general name of beasts. This is the sort of division which an + intelligent crane would make: he would put cranes into a class by + themselves for their special glory, and jumble together all others, + including man, in the class of beasts. An error of this kind can only be + avoided by a more regular subdivision. Just now we divided the whole class + of animals into gregarious and non-gregarious, omitting the previous + division into tame and wild. We forgot this in our hurry to arrive at man, + and found by experience, as the proverb says, that 'the more haste the + worse speed.' + </p> + <p> + And now let us begin again at the art of managing herds. You have probably + heard of the fish-preserves in the Nile and in the ponds of the Great + King, and of the nurseries of geese and cranes in Thessaly. These suggest + a new division into the rearing or management of land-herds and of + water-herds:—I need not say with which the king is concerned. And + land-herds may be divided into walking and flying; and every idiot knows + that the political animal is a pedestrian. At this point we may take a + longer or a shorter road, and as we are already near the end, I see no + harm in taking the longer, which is the way of mesotomy, and accords with + the principle which we were laying down. The tame, walking, herding + animal, may be divided into two classes—the horned and the hornless, + and the king is concerned with the hornless; and these again may be + subdivided into animals having or not having cloven feet, or mixing or not + mixing the breed; and the king or statesman has the care of animals which + have not cloven feet, and which do not mix the breed. And now, if we omit + dogs, who can hardly be said to herd, I think that we have only two + species left which remain undivided: and how are we to distinguish them? + To geometricians, like you and Theaetetus, I can have no difficulty in + explaining that man is a diameter, having a power of two feet; and the + power of four-legged creatures, being the double of two feet, is the + diameter of our diameter. There is another excellent jest which I spy in + the two remaining species. Men and birds are both bipeds, and human beings + are running a race with the airiest and freest of creation, in which they + are far behind their competitors;—this is a great joke, and there is + a still better in the juxtaposition of the bird-taker and the king, who + may be seen scampering after them. For, as we remarked in discussing the + Sophist, the dialectical method is no respecter of persons. But we might + have proceeded, as I was saying, by another and a shorter road. In that + case we should have begun by dividing land animals into bipeds and + quadrupeds, and bipeds into winged and wingless; we should than have taken + the Statesman and set him over the 'bipes implume,' and put the reins of + government into his hands. + </p> + <p> + Here let us sum up:—The science of pure knowledge had a part which + was the science of command, and this had a part which was a science of + wholesale command; and this was divided into the management of animals, + and was again parted off into the management of herds of animals, and + again of land animals, and these into hornless, and these into bipeds; and + so at last we arrived at man, and found the political and royal science. + And yet we have not clearly distinguished the political shepherd from his + rivals. No one would think of usurping the prerogatives of the ordinary + shepherd, who on all hands is admitted to be the trainer, matchmaker, + doctor, musician of his flock. But the royal shepherd has numberless + competitors, from whom he must be distinguished; there are merchants, + husbandmen, physicians, who will all dispute his right to manage the + flock. I think that we can best distinguish him by having recourse to a + famous old tradition, which may amuse as well as instruct us; the + narrative is perfectly true, although the scepticism of mankind is prone + to doubt the tales of old. You have heard what happened in the quarrel of + Atreus and Thyestes? 'You mean about the golden lamb?' No, not that; but + another part of the story, which tells how the sun and stars once arose in + the west and set in the east, and that the god reversed their motion, as a + witness to the right of Atreus. 'There is such a story.' And no doubt you + have heard of the empire of Cronos, and of the earthborn men? The origin + of these and the like stories is to be found in the tale which I am about + to narrate. + </p> + <p> + There was a time when God directed the revolutions of the world, but at + the completion of a certain cycle he let go; and the world, by a necessity + of its nature, turned back, and went round the other way. For divine + things alone are unchangeable; but the earth and heavens, although endowed + with many glories, have a body, and are therefore liable to perturbation. + In the case of the world, the perturbation is very slight, and amounts + only to a reversal of motion. For the lord of moving things is alone + self-moved; neither can piety allow that he goes at one time in one + direction and at another time in another; or that God has given the + universe opposite motions; or that there are two gods, one turning it in + one direction, another in another. But the truth is, that there are two + cycles of the world, and in one of them it is governed by an immediate + Providence, and receives life and immortality, and in the other is let go + again, and has a reverse action during infinite ages. This new action is + spontaneous, and is due to exquisite perfection of balance, to the vast + size of the universe, and to the smallness of the pivot upon which it + turns. All changes in the heaven affect the animal world, and this being + the greatest of them, is most destructive to men and animals. At the + beginning of the cycle before our own very few of them had survived; and + on these a mighty change passed. For their life was reversed like the + motion of the world, and first of all coming to a stand then quickly + returned to youth and beauty. The white locks of the aged became black; + the cheeks of the bearded man were restored to their youth and fineness; + the young men grew softer and smaller, and, being reduced to the condition + of children in mind as well as body, began to vanish away; and the bodies + of those who had died by violence, in a few moments underwent a parallel + change and disappeared. In that cycle of existence there was no such thing + as the procreation of animals from one another, but they were born of the + earth, and of this our ancestors, who came into being immediately after + the end of the last cycle and at the beginning of this, have preserved the + recollection. Such traditions are often now unduly discredited, and yet + they may be proved by internal evidence. For observe how consistent the + narrative is; as the old returned to youth, so the dead returned to life; + the wheel of their existence having been reversed, they rose again from + the earth: a few only were reserved by God for another destiny. Such was + the origin of the earthborn men. + </p> + <p> + 'And is this cycle, of which you are speaking, the reign of Cronos, or our + present state of existence?' No, Socrates, that blessed and spontaneous + life belongs not to this, but to the previous state, in which God was the + governor of the whole world, and other gods subject to him ruled over + parts of the world, as is still the case in certain places. They were + shepherds of men and animals, each of them sufficing for those of whom he + had the care. And there was no violence among them, or war, or devouring + of one another. Their life was spontaneous, because in those days God + ruled over man; and he was to man what man is now to the animals. Under + his government there were no estates, or private possessions, or families; + but the earth produced a sufficiency of all things, and men were born out + of the earth, having no traditions of the past; and as the temperature of + the seasons was mild, they took no thought for raiment, and had no beds, + but lived and dwelt in the open air. + </p> + <p> + Such was the age of Cronos, and the age of Zeus is our own. Tell me, which + is the happier of the two? Or rather, shall I tell you that the happiness + of these children of Cronos must have depended on how they used their + time? If having boundless leisure, and the power of discoursing not only + with one another but with the animals, they had employed these advantages + with a view to philosophy, gathering from every nature some addition to + their store of knowledge;—or again, if they had merely eaten and + drunk, and told stories to one another, and to the beasts;—in either + case, I say, there would be no difficulty in answering the question. But + as nobody knows which they did, the question must remain unanswered. And + here is the point of my tale. In the fulness of time, when the earthborn + men had all passed away, the ruler of the universe let go the helm, and + became a spectator; and destiny and natural impulse swayed the world. At + the same instant all the inferior deities gave up their hold; the whole + universe rebounded, and there was a great earthquake, and utter ruin of + all manner of animals. After a while the tumult ceased, and the universal + creature settled down in his accustomed course, having authority over all + other creatures, and following the instructions of his God and Father, at + first more precisely, afterwards with less exactness. The reason of the + falling off was the disengagement of a former chaos; 'a muddy vesture of + decay' was a part of his original nature, out of which he was brought by + his Creator, under whose immediate guidance, while he remained in that + former cycle, the evil was minimized and the good increased to the utmost. + And in the beginning of the new cycle all was well enough, but as time + went on, discord entered in; at length the good was minimized and the evil + everywhere diffused, and there was a danger of universal ruin. Then the + Creator, seeing the world in great straits, and fearing that chaos and + infinity would come again, in his tender care again placed himself at the + helm and restored order, and made the world immortal and imperishable. + Once more the cycle of life and generation was reversed; the infants grew + into young men, and the young men became greyheaded; no longer did the + animals spring out of the earth; as the whole world was now lord of its + own progress, so the parts were to be self-created and self-nourished. At + first the case of men was very helpless and pitiable; for they were alone + among the wild beasts, and had to carry on the struggle for existence + without arts or knowledge, and had no food, and did not know how to get + any. That was the time when Prometheus brought them fire, Hephaestus and + Athene taught them arts, and other gods gave them seeds and plants. Out of + these human life was framed; for mankind were left to themselves, and + ordered their own ways, living, like the universe, in one cycle after one + manner, and in another cycle after another manner. + </p> + <p> + Enough of the myth, which may show us two errors of which we were guilty + in our account of the king. The first and grand error was in choosing for + our king a god, who belongs to the other cycle, instead of a man from our + own; there was a lesser error also in our failure to define the nature of + the royal functions. The myth gave us only the image of a divine shepherd, + whereas the statesmen and kings of our own day very much resemble their + subjects in education and breeding. On retracing our steps we find that we + gave too narrow a designation to the art which was concerned with + command-for-self over living creatures, when we called it the 'feeding' of + animals in flocks. This would apply to all shepherds, with the exception + of the Statesman; but if we say 'managing' or 'tending' animals, the term + would include him as well. Having remodelled the name, we may subdivide as + before, first separating the human from the divine shepherd or manager. + Then we may subdivide the human art of governing into the government of + willing and unwilling subjects—royalty and tyranny—which are + the extreme opposites of one another, although we in our simplicity have + hitherto confounded them. + </p> + <p> + And yet the figure of the king is still defective. We have taken up a lump + of fable, and have used more than we needed. Like statuaries, we have made + some of the features out of proportion, and shall lose time in reducing + them. Or our mythus may be compared to a picture, which is well drawn in + outline, but is not yet enlivened by colour. And to intelligent persons + language is, or ought to be, a better instrument of description than any + picture. 'But what, Stranger, is the deficiency of which you speak?' No + higher truth can be made clear without an example; every man seems to know + all things in a dream, and to know nothing when he is awake. And the + nature of example can only be illustrated by an example. Children are + taught to read by being made to compare cases in which they do not know a + certain letter with cases in which they know it, until they learn to + recognize it in all its combinations. Example comes into use when we + identify something unknown with that which is known, and form a common + notion of both of them. Like the child who is learning his letters, the + soul recognizes some of the first elements of things; and then again is at + fault and unable to recognize them when they are translated into the + difficult language of facts. Let us, then, take an example, which will + illustrate the nature of example, and will also assist us in + characterizing the political science, and in separating the true king from + his rivals. + </p> + <p> + I will select the example of weaving, or, more precisely, weaving of wool. + In the first place, all possessions are either productive or preventive; + of the preventive sort are spells and antidotes, divine and human, and + also defences, and defences are either arms or screens, and screens are + veils and also shields against heat and cold, and shields against heat and + cold are shelters and coverings, and coverings are blankets or garments, + and garments are in one piece or have many parts; and of these latter, + some are stitched and others are fastened, and of these again some are + made of fibres of plants and some of hair, and of these some are cemented + with water and earth, and some are fastened with their own material; the + latter are called clothes, and are made by the art of clothing, from which + the art of weaving differs only in name, as the political differs from the + royal science. Thus we have drawn several distinctions, but as yet have + not distinguished the weaving of garments from the kindred and + co-operative arts. For the first process to which the material is + subjected is the opposite of weaving—I mean carding. And the art of + carding, and the whole art of the fuller and the mender, are concerned + with the treatment and production of clothes, as well as the art of + weaving. Again, there are the arts which make the weaver's tools. And if + we say that the weaver's art is the greatest and noblest of those which + have to do with woollen garments,—this, although true, is not + sufficiently distinct; because these other arts require to be first + cleared away. Let us proceed, then, by regular steps:—There are + causal or principal, and co-operative or subordinate arts. To the causal + class belong the arts of washing and mending, of carding and spinning the + threads, and the other arts of working in wool; these are chiefly of two + kinds, falling under the two great categories of composition and division. + Carding is of the latter sort. But our concern is chiefly with that part + of the art of wool-working which composes, and of which one kind twists + and the other interlaces the threads, whether the firmer texture of the + warp or the looser texture of the woof. These are adapted to each other, + and the orderly composition of them forms a woollen garment. And the art + which presides over these operations is the art of weaving. + </p> + <p> + But why did we go through this circuitous process, instead of saying at + once that weaving is the art of entwining the warp and the woof? In order + that our labour may not seem to be lost, I must explain the whole nature + of excess and defect. There are two arts of measuring—one is + concerned with relative size, and the other has reference to a mean or + standard of what is meet. The difference between good and evil is the + difference between a mean or measure and excess or defect. All things + require to be compared, not only with one another, but with the mean, + without which there would be no beauty and no art, whether the art of the + statesman or the art of weaving or any other; for all the arts guard + against excess or defect, which are real evils. This we must endeavour to + show, if the arts are to exist; and the proof of this will be a harder + piece of work than the demonstration of the existence of not-being which + we proved in our discussion about the Sophist. At present I am content + with the indirect proof that the existence of such a standard is necessary + to the existence of the arts. The standard or measure, which we are now + only applying to the arts, may be some day required with a view to the + demonstration of absolute truth. + </p> + <p> + We may now divide this art of measurement into two parts; placing in the + one part all the arts which measure the relative size or number of + objects, and in the other all those which depend upon a mean or standard. + Many accomplished men say that the art of measurement has to do with all + things, but these persons, although in this notion of theirs they may very + likely be right, are apt to fail in seeing the differences of classes—they + jumble together in one the 'more' and the 'too much,' which are very + different things. Whereas the right way is to find the differences of + classes, and to comprehend the things which have any affinity under the + same class. + </p> + <p> + I will make one more observation by the way. When a pupil at a school is + asked the letters which make up a particular word, is he not asked with a + view to his knowing the same letters in all words? And our enquiry about + the Statesman in like manner is intended not only to improve our knowledge + of politics, but our reasoning powers generally. Still less would any one + analyze the nature of weaving for its own sake. There is no difficulty in + exhibiting sensible images, but the greatest and noblest truths have no + outward form adapted to the eye of sense, and are only revealed in + thought. And all that we are now saying is said for the sake of them. I + make these remarks, because I want you to get rid of any impression that + our discussion about weaving and about the reversal of the universe, and + the other discussion about the Sophist and not-being, were tedious and + irrelevant. Please to observe that they can only be fairly judged when + compared with what is meet; and yet not with what is meet for producing + pleasure, nor even meet for making discoveries, but for the great end of + developing the dialectical method and sharpening the wits of the auditors. + He who censures us, should prove that, if our words had been fewer, they + would have been better calculated to make men dialecticians. + </p> + <p> + And now let us return to our king or statesman, and transfer to him the + example of weaving. The royal art has been separated from that of other + herdsmen, but not from the causal and co-operative arts which exist in + states; these do not admit of dichotomy, and therefore they must be carved + neatly, like the limbs of a victim, not into more parts than are + necessary. And first (1) we have the large class of instruments, which + includes almost everything in the world; from these may be parted off (2) + vessels which are framed for the preservation of things, moist or dry, + prepared in the fire or out of the fire. The royal or political art has + nothing to do with either of these, any more than with the arts of making + (3) vehicles, or (4) defences, whether dresses, or arms, or walls, or (5) + with the art of making ornaments, whether pictures or other playthings, as + they may be fitly called, for they have no serious use. Then (6) there are + the arts which furnish gold, silver, wood, bark, and other materials, + which should have been put first; these, again, have no concern with the + kingly science; any more than the arts (7) which provide food and + nourishment for the human body, and which furnish occupation to the + husbandman, huntsman, doctor, cook, and the like, but not to the king or + statesman. Further, there are small things, such as coins, seals, stamps, + which may with a little violence be comprehended in one of the + above-mentioned classes. Thus they will embrace every species of property + with the exception of animals,—but these have been already included + in the art of tending herds. There remains only the class of slaves or + ministers, among whom I expect that the real rivals of the king will be + discovered. I am not speaking of the veritable slave bought with money, + nor of the hireling who lets himself out for service, nor of the trader or + merchant, who at best can only lay claim to economical and not to royal + science. Nor am I referring to government officials, such as heralds and + scribes, for these are only the servants of the rulers, and not the rulers + themselves. I admit that there may be something strange in any servants + pretending to be masters, but I hardly think that I could have been wrong + in supposing that the principal claimants to the throne will be of this + class. Let us try once more: There are diviners and priests, who are full + of pride and prerogative; these, as the law declares, know how to give + acceptable gifts to the gods, and in many parts of Hellas the duty of + performing solemn sacrifices is assigned to the chief magistrate, as at + Athens to the King Archon. At last, then, we have found a trace of those + whom we were seeking. But still they are only servants and ministers. + </p> + <p> + And who are these who next come into view in various forms of men and + animals and other monsters appearing—lions and centaurs and satyrs—who + are these? I did not know them at first, for every one looks strange when + he is unexpected. But now I recognize the politician and his troop, the + chief of Sophists, the prince of charlatans, the most accomplished of + wizards, who must be carefully distinguished from the true king or + statesman. And here I will interpose a question: What are the true forms + of government? Are they not three—monarchy, oligarchy, and + democracy? and the distinctions of freedom and compulsion, law and no law, + poverty and riches expand these three into six. Monarchy may be divided + into royalty and tyranny; oligarchy into aristocracy and plutocracy; and + democracy may observe the law or may not observe it. But are any of these + governments worthy of the name? Is not government a science, and are we to + suppose that scientific government is secured by the rulers being many or + few, rich or poor, or by the rule being compulsory or voluntary? Can the + many attain to science? In no Hellenic city are there fifty good draught + players, and certainly there are not as many kings, for by kings we mean + all those who are possessed of the political science. A true government + must therefore be the government of one, or of a few. And they may govern + us either with or without law, and whether they are poor or rich, and + however they govern, provided they govern on some scientific principle,—it + makes no difference. And as the physician may cure us with our will, or + against our will, and by any mode of treatment, burning, bleeding, + lowering, fattening, if he only proceeds scientifically: so the true + governor may reduce or fatten or bleed the body corporate, while he acts + according to the rules of his art, and with a view to the good of the + state, whether according to law or without law. + </p> + <p> + 'I do not like the notion, that there can be good government without law.' + </p> + <p> + I must explain: Law-making certainly is the business of a king; and yet + the best thing of all is, not that the law should rule, but that the king + should rule, for the varieties of circumstances are endless, and no simple + or universal rule can suit them all, or last for ever. The law is just an + ignorant brute of a tyrant, who insists always on his commands being + fulfilled under all circumstances. 'Then why have we laws at all?' I will + answer that question by asking you whether the training master gives a + different discipline to each of his pupils, or whether he has a general + rule of diet and exercise which is suited to the constitutions of the + majority? 'The latter.' The legislator, too, is obliged to lay down + general laws, and cannot enact what is precisely suitable to each + particular case. He cannot be sitting at every man's side all his life, + and prescribe for him the minute particulars of his duty, and therefore he + is compelled to impose on himself and others the restriction of a written + law. Let me suppose now, that a physician or trainer, having left + directions for his patients or pupils, goes into a far country, and comes + back sooner than he intended; owing to some unexpected change in the + weather, the patient or pupil seems to require a different mode of + treatment: Would he persist in his old commands, under the idea that all + others are noxious and heterodox? Viewed in the light of science, would + not the continuance of such regulations be ridiculous? And if the + legislator, or another like him, comes back from a far country, is he to + be prohibited from altering his own laws? The common people say: Let a man + persuade the city first, and then let him impose new laws. But is a + physician only to cure his patients by persuasion, and not by force? Is he + a worse physician who uses a little gentle violence in effecting the cure? + Or shall we say, that the violence is just, if exercised by a rich man, + and unjust, if by a poor man? May not any man, rich or poor, with or + without law, and whether the citizens like or not, do what is for their + good? The pilot saves the lives of the crew, not by laying down rules, but + by making his art a law, and, like him, the true governor has a strength + of art which is superior to the law. This is scientific government, and + all others are imitations only. Yet no great number of persons can attain + to this science. And hence follows an important result. The true political + principle is to assert the inviolability of the law, which, though not the + best thing possible, is best for the imperfect condition of man. + </p> + <p> + I will explain my meaning by an illustration:—Suppose that mankind, + indignant at the rogueries and caprices of physicians and pilots, call + together an assembly, in which all who like may speak, the skilled as well + as the unskilled, and that in their assembly they make decrees for + regulating the practice of navigation and medicine which are to be binding + on these professions for all time. Suppose that they elect annually by + vote or lot those to whom authority in either department is to be + delegated. And let us further imagine, that when the term of their + magistracy has expired, the magistrates appointed by them are summoned + before an ignorant and unprofessional court, and may be condemned and + punished for breaking the regulations. They even go a step further, and + enact, that he who is found enquiring into the truth of navigation and + medicine, and is seeking to be wise above what is written, shall be called + not an artist, but a dreamer, a prating Sophist and a corruptor of youth; + and if he try to persuade others to investigate those sciences in a manner + contrary to the law, he shall be punished with the utmost severity. And + like rules might be extended to any art or science. But what would be the + consequence? + </p> + <p> + 'The arts would utterly perish, and human life, which is bad enough + already, would become intolerable.' + </p> + <p> + But suppose, once more, that we were to appoint some one as the guardian + of the law, who was both ignorant and interested, and who perverted the + law: would not this be a still worse evil than the other? 'Certainly.' For + the laws are based on some experience and wisdom. Hence the wiser course + is, that they should be observed, although this is not the best thing of + all, but only the second best. And whoever, having skill, should try to + improve them, would act in the spirit of the law-giver. But then, as we + have seen, no great number of men, whether poor or rich, can be makers of + laws. And so, the nearest approach to true government is, when men do + nothing contrary to their own written laws and national customs. When the + rich preserve their customs and maintain the law, this is called + aristocracy, or if they neglect the law, oligarchy. When an individual + rules according to law, whether by the help of science or opinion, this is + called monarchy; and when he has royal science he is a king, whether he be + so in fact or not; but when he rules in spite of law, and is blind with + ignorance and passion, he is called a tyrant. These forms of government + exist, because men despair of the true king ever appearing among them; if + he were to appear, they would joyfully hand over to him the reins of + government. But, as there is no natural ruler of the hive, they meet + together and make laws. And do we wonder, when the foundation of politics + is in the letter only, at the miseries of states? Ought we not rather to + admire the strength of the political bond? For cities have endured the + worst of evils time out of mind; many cities have been shipwrecked, and + some are like ships foundering, because their pilots are absolutely + ignorant of the science which they profess. + </p> + <p> + Let us next ask, which of these untrue forms of government is the least + bad, and which of them is the worst? I said at the beginning, that each of + the three forms of government, royalty, aristocracy, and democracy, might + be divided into two, so that the whole number of them, including the best, + will be seven. Under monarchy we have already distinguished royalty and + tyranny; of oligarchy there were two kinds, aristocracy and plutocracy; + and democracy may also be divided, for there is a democracy which + observes, and a democracy which neglects, the laws. The government of one + is the best and the worst—the government of a few is less bad and + less good—the government of the many is the least bad and least good + of them all, being the best of all lawless governments, and the worst of + all lawful ones. But the rulers of all these states, unless they have + knowledge, are maintainers of idols, and themselves idols—wizards, + and also Sophists; for, after many windings, the term 'Sophist' comes home + to them. + </p> + <p> + And now enough of centaurs and satyrs: the play is ended, and they may + quit the political stage. Still there remain some other and better + elements, which adhere to the royal science, and must be drawn off in the + refiner's fire before the gold can become quite pure. The arts of the + general, the judge, and the orator, will have to be separated from the + royal art; when the separation has been made, the nature of the king will + be unalloyed. Now there are inferior sciences, such as music and others; + and there is a superior science, which determines whether music is to be + learnt or not, and this is different from them, and the governor of them. + The science which determines whether we are to use persuasion, or not, is + higher than the art of persuasion; the science which determines whether we + are to go to war, is higher than the art of the general. The science which + makes the laws, is higher than that which only administers them. And the + science which has this authority over the rest, is the science of the king + or statesman. + </p> + <p> + Once more we will endeavour to view this royal science by the light of our + example. We may compare the state to a web, and I will show you how the + different threads are drawn into one. You would admit—would you not?—that + there are parts of virtue (although this position is sometimes assailed by + Eristics), and one part of virtue is temperance, and another courage. + These are two principles which are in a manner antagonistic to one + another; and they pervade all nature; the whole class of the good and + beautiful is included under them. The beautiful may be subdivided into two + lesser classes: one of these is described by us in terms expressive of + motion or energy, and the other in terms expressive of rest and quietness. + We say, how manly! how vigorous! how ready! and we say also, how calm! how + temperate! how dignified! This opposition of terms is extended by us to + all actions, to the tones of the voice, the notes of music, the workings + of the mind, the characters of men. The two classes both have their + exaggerations; and the exaggerations of the one are termed 'hardness,' + 'violence,' 'madness;' of the other 'cowardliness,' or 'sluggishness.' And + if we pursue the enquiry, we find that these opposite characters are + naturally at variance, and can hardly be reconciled. In lesser matters the + antagonism between them is ludicrous, but in the State may be the occasion + of grave disorders, and may disturb the whole course of human life. For + the orderly class are always wanting to be at peace, and hence they pass + imperceptibly into the condition of slaves; and the courageous sort are + always wanting to go to war, even when the odds are against them, and are + soon destroyed by their enemies. But the true art of government, first + preparing the material by education, weaves the two elements into one, + maintaining authority over the carders of the wool, and selecting the + proper subsidiary arts which are necessary for making the web. The royal + science is queen of educators, and begins by choosing the natures which + she is to train, punishing with death and exterminating those who are + violently carried away to atheism and injustice, and enslaving those who + are wallowing in the mire of ignorance. The rest of the citizens she + blends into one, combining the stronger element of courage, which we may + call the warp, with the softer element of temperance, which we may imagine + to be the woof. These she binds together, first taking the eternal + elements of the honourable, the good, and the just, and fastening them + with a divine cord in a heaven-born nature, and then fastening the animal + elements with a human cord. The good legislator can implant by education + the higher principles; and where they exist there is no difficulty in + inserting the lesser human bonds, by which the State is held together; + these are the laws of intermarriage, and of union for the sake of + offspring. Most persons in their marriages seek after wealth or power; or + they are clannish, and choose those who are like themselves,—the + temperate marrying the temperate, and the courageous the courageous. The + two classes thrive and flourish at first, but they soon degenerate; the + one become mad, and the other feeble and useless. This would not have been + the case, if they had both originally held the same notions about the + honourable and the good; for then they never would have allowed the + temperate natures to be separated from the courageous, but they would have + bound them together by common honours and reputations, by intermarriages, + and by the choice of rulers who combine both qualities. The temperate are + careful and just, but are wanting in the power of action; the courageous + fall short of them in justice, but in action are superior to them: and no + state can prosper in which either of these qualities is wanting. The + noblest and best of all webs or states is that which the royal science + weaves, combining the two sorts of natures in a single texture, and in + this enfolding freeman and slave and every other social element, and + presiding over them all. + </p> + <p> + 'Your picture, Stranger, of the king and statesman, no less than of the + Sophist, is quite perfect.' + </p> + <p> + ... + </p> + <p> + The principal subjects in the Statesman may be conveniently embraced under + six or seven heads:—(1) the myth; (2) the dialectical interest; (3) + the political aspects of the dialogue; (4) the satirical and paradoxical + vein; (5) the necessary imperfection of law; (6) the relation of the work + to the other writings of Plato; lastly (7), we may briefly consider the + genuineness of the Sophist and Statesman, which can hardly be assumed + without proof, since the two dialogues have been questioned by three such + eminent Platonic scholars as Socher, Schaarschmidt, and Ueberweg. + </p> + <p> + I. The hand of the master is clearly visible in the myth. First in the + connection with mythology;—he wins a kind of verisimilitude for this + as for his other myths, by adopting received traditions, of which he + pretends to find an explanation in his own larger conception (compare + Introduction to Critias). The young Socrates has heard of the sun rising + in the west and setting in the east, and of the earth-born men; but he has + never heard the origin of these remarkable phenomena. Nor is Plato, here + or elsewhere, wanting in denunciations of the incredulity of 'this latter + age,' on which the lovers of the marvellous have always delighted to + enlarge. And he is not without express testimony to the truth of his + narrative;—such testimony as, in the Timaeus, the first men gave of + the names of the gods ('They must surely have known their own ancestors'). + For the first generation of the new cycle, who lived near the time, are + supposed to have preserved a recollection of a previous one. He also + appeals to internal evidence, viz. the perfect coherence of the tale, + though he is very well aware, as he says in the Cratylus, that there may + be consistency in error as well as in truth. The gravity and minuteness + with which some particulars are related also lend an artful aid. The + profound interest and ready assent of the young Socrates, who is not too + old to be amused 'with a tale which a child would love to hear,' are a + further assistance. To those who were naturally inclined to believe that + the fortunes of mankind are influenced by the stars, or who maintained + that some one principle, like the principle of the Same and the Other in + the Timaeus, pervades all things in the world, the reversal of the motion + of the heavens seemed necessarily to produce a reversal of the order of + human life. The spheres of knowledge, which to us appear wide asunder as + the poles, astronomy and medicine, were naturally connected in the minds + of early thinkers, because there was little or nothing in the space + between them. Thus there is a basis of philosophy, on which the + improbabilities of the tale may be said to rest. These are some of the + devices by which Plato, like a modern novelist, seeks to familiarize the + marvellous. + </p> + <p> + The myth, like that of the Timaeus and Critias, is rather historical than + poetical, in this respect corresponding to the general change in the later + writings of Plato, when compared with the earlier ones. It is hardly a + myth in the sense in which the term might be applied to the myth of the + Phaedrus, the Republic, the Phaedo, or the Gorgias, but may be more aptly + compared with the didactic tale in which Protagoras describes the fortunes + of primitive man, or with the description of the gradual rise of a new + society in the Third Book of the Laws. Some discrepancies may be observed + between the mythology of the Statesman and the Timaeus, and between the + Timaeus and the Republic. But there is no reason to expect that all + Plato's visions of a former, any more than of a future, state of + existence, should conform exactly to the same pattern. We do not find + perfect consistency in his philosophy; and still less have we any right to + demand this of him in his use of mythology and figures of speech. And we + observe that while employing all the resources of a writer of fiction to + give credibility to his tales, he is not disposed to insist upon their + literal truth. Rather, as in the Phaedo, he says, 'Something of the kind + is true;' or, as in the Gorgias, 'This you will think to be an old wife's + tale, but you can think of nothing truer;' or, as in the Statesman, he + describes his work as a 'mass of mythology,' which was introduced in order + to teach certain lessons; or, as in the Phaedrus, he secretly laughs at + such stories while refusing to disturb the popular belief in them. + </p> + <p> + The greater interest of the myth consists in the philosophical lessons + which Plato presents to us in this veiled form. Here, as in the tale of + Er, the son of Armenius, he touches upon the question of freedom and + necessity, both in relation to God and nature. For at first the universe + is governed by the immediate providence of God,—this is the golden + age,—but after a while the wheel is reversed, and man is left to + himself. Like other theologians and philosophers, Plato relegates his + explanation of the problem to a transcendental world; he speaks of what in + modern language might be termed 'impossibilities in the nature of things,' + hindering God from continuing immanent in the world. But there is some + inconsistency; for the 'letting go' is spoken of as a divine act, and is + at the same time attributed to the necessary imperfection of matter; there + is also a numerical necessity for the successive births of souls. At + first, man and the world retain their divine instincts, but gradually + degenerate. As in the Book of Genesis, the first fall of man is succeeded + by a second; the misery and wickedness of the world increase continually. + The reason of this further decline is supposed to be the disorganisation + of matter: the latent seeds of a former chaos are disengaged, and envelope + all things. The condition of man becomes more and more miserable; he is + perpetually waging an unequal warfare with the beasts. At length he + obtains such a measure of education and help as is necessary for his + existence. Though deprived of God's help, he is not left wholly destitute; + he has received from Athene and Hephaestus a knowledge of the arts; other + gods give him seeds and plants; and out of these human life is + reconstructed. He now eats bread in the sweat of his brow, and has + dominion over the animals, subjected to the conditions of his nature, and + yet able to cope with them by divine help. Thus Plato may be said to + represent in a figure—(1) the state of innocence; (2) the fall of + man; (3) the still deeper decline into barbarism; (4) the restoration of + man by the partial interference of God, and the natural growth of the arts + and of civilised society. Two lesser features of this description should + not pass unnoticed:—(1) the primitive men are supposed to be created + out of the earth, and not after the ordinary manner of human generation—half + the causes of moral evil are in this way removed; (2) the arts are + attributed to a divine revelation: and so the greatest difficulty in the + history of pre-historic man is solved. Though no one knew better than + Plato that the introduction of the gods is not a reason, but an excuse for + not giving a reason (Cratylus), yet, considering that more than two + thousand years later mankind are still discussing these problems, we may + be satisfied to find in Plato a statement of the difficulties which arise + in conceiving the relation of man to God and nature, without expecting to + obtain from him a solution of them. In such a tale, as in the Phaedrus, + various aspects of the Ideas were doubtless indicated to Plato's own mind, + as the corresponding theological problems are to us. The immanence of + things in the Ideas, or the partial separation of them, and the + self-motion of the supreme Idea, are probably the forms in which he would + have interpreted his own parable. + </p> + <p> + He touches upon another question of great interest—the consciousness + of evil—what in the Jewish Scriptures is called 'eating of the tree + of the knowledge of good and evil.' At the end of the narrative, the + Eleatic asks his companion whether this life of innocence, or that which + men live at present, is the better of the two. He wants to distinguish + between the mere animal life of innocence, the 'city of pigs,' as it is + comically termed by Glaucon in the Republic, and the higher life of reason + and philosophy. But as no one can determine the state of man in the world + before the Fall, 'the question must remain unanswered.' Similar questions + have occupied the minds of theologians in later ages; but they can hardly + be said to have found an answer. Professor Campbell well observes, that + the general spirit of the myth may be summed up in the words of the Lysis: + 'If evil were to perish, should we hunger any more, or thirst any more, or + have any similar sensations? Yet perhaps the question what will or will + not be is a foolish one, for who can tell?' As in the Theaetetus, evil is + supposed to continue,—here, as the consequence of a former state of + the world, a sort of mephitic vapour exhaling from some ancient chaos,—there, + as involved in the possibility of good, and incident to the mixed state of + man. + </p> + <p> + Once more—and this is the point of connexion with the rest of the + dialogue—the myth is intended to bring out the difference between + the ideal and the actual state of man. In all ages of the world men have + dreamed of a state of perfection, which has been, and is to be, but never + is, and seems to disappear under the necessary conditions of human + society. The uselessness, the danger, the true value of such political + ideals have often been discussed; youth is too ready to believe in them; + age to disparage them. Plato's 'prudens quaestio' respecting the + comparative happiness of men in this and in a former cycle of existence is + intended to elicit this contrast between the golden age and 'the life + under Zeus' which is our own. To confuse the divine and human, or hastily + apply one to the other, is a 'tremendous error.' Of the ideal or divine + government of the world we can form no true or adequate conception; and + this our mixed state of life, in which we are partly left to ourselves, + but not wholly deserted by the gods, may contain some higher elements of + good and knowledge than could have existed in the days of innocence under + the rule of Cronos. So we may venture slightly to enlarge a Platonic + thought which admits of a further application to Christian theology. Here + are suggested also the distinctions between God causing and permitting + evil, and between his more and less immediate government of the world. + </p> + <p> + II. The dialectical interest of the Statesman seems to contend in Plato's + mind with the political; the dialogue might have been designated by two + equally descriptive titles—either the 'Statesman,' or 'Concerning + Method.' Dialectic, which in the earlier writings of Plato is a revival of + the Socratic question and answer applied to definition, is now occupied + with classification; there is nothing in which he takes greater delight + than in processes of division (compare Phaedr.); he pursues them to a + length out of proportion to his main subject, and appears to value them as + a dialectical exercise, and for their own sake. A poetical vision of some + order or hierarchy of ideas or sciences has already been floating before + us in the Symposium and the Republic. And in the Phaedrus this aspect of + dialectic is further sketched out, and the art of rhetoric is based on the + division of the characters of mankind into their several classes. The same + love of divisions is apparent in the Gorgias. But in a well-known passage + of the Philebus occurs the first criticism on the nature of + classification. There we are exhorted not to fall into the common error of + passing from unity to infinity, but to find the intermediate classes; and + we are reminded that in any process of generalization, there may be more + than one class to which individuals may be referred, and that we must + carry on the process of division until we have arrived at the infima + species. + </p> + <p> + These precepts are not forgotten, either in the Sophist or in the + Statesman. The Sophist contains four examples of division, carried on by + regular steps, until in four different lines of descent we detect the + Sophist. In the Statesman the king or statesman is discovered by a similar + process; and we have a summary, probably made for the first time, of + possessions appropriated by the labour of man, which are distributed into + seven classes. We are warned against preferring the shorter to the longer + method;—if we divide in the middle, we are most likely to light upon + species; at the same time, the important remark is made, that 'a part is + not to be confounded with a class.' Having discovered the genus under + which the king falls, we proceed to distinguish him from the collateral + species. To assist our imagination in making this separation, we require + an example. The higher ideas, of which we have a dreamy knowledge, can + only be represented by images taken from the external world. But, first of + all, the nature of example is explained by an example. The child is taught + to read by comparing the letters in words which he knows with the same + letters in unknown combinations; and this is the sort of process which we + are about to attempt. As a parallel to the king we select the worker in + wool, and compare the art of weaving with the royal science, trying to + separate either of them from the inferior classes to which they are akin. + This has the incidental advantage, that weaving and the web furnish us + with a figure of speech, which we can afterwards transfer to the State. + </p> + <p> + There are two uses of examples or images—in the first place, they + suggest thoughts—secondly, they give them a distinct form. In the + infancy of philosophy, as in childhood, the language of pictures is + natural to man: truth in the abstract is hardly won, and only by use + familiarized to the mind. Examples are akin to analogies, and have a + reflex influence on thought; they people the vacant mind, and may often + originate new directions of enquiry. Plato seems to be conscious of the + suggestiveness of imagery; the general analogy of the arts is constantly + employed by him as well as the comparison of particular arts—weaving, + the refining of gold, the learning to read, music, statuary, painting, + medicine, the art of the pilot—all of which occur in this dialogue + alone: though he is also aware that 'comparisons are slippery things,' and + may often give a false clearness to ideas. We shall find, in the Philebus, + a division of sciences into practical and speculative, and into more or + less speculative: here we have the idea of master-arts, or sciences which + control inferior ones. Besides the supreme science of dialectic, 'which + will forget us, if we forget her,' another master-science for the first + time appears in view—the science of government, which fixes the + limits of all the rest. This conception of the political or royal science + as, from another point of view, the science of sciences, which holds sway + over the rest, is not originally found in Aristotle, but in Plato. + </p> + <p> + The doctrine that virtue and art are in a mean, which is familiarized to + us by the study of the Nicomachean Ethics, is also first distinctly + asserted in the Statesman of Plato. The too much and the too little are in + restless motion: they must be fixed by a mean, which is also a standard + external to them. The art of measuring or finding a mean between excess + and defect, like the principle of division in the Phaedrus, receives a + particular application to the art of discourse. The excessive length of a + discourse may be blamed; but who can say what is excess, unless he is + furnished with a measure or standard? Measure is the life of the arts, and + may some day be discovered to be the single ultimate principle in which + all the sciences are contained. Other forms of thought may be noted—the + distinction between causal and co-operative arts, which may be compared + with the distinction between primary and co-operative causes in the + Timaeus; or between cause and condition in the Phaedo; the passing mention + of economical science; the opposition of rest and motion, which is found + in all nature; the general conception of two great arts of composition and + division, in which are contained weaving, politics, dialectic; and in + connexion with the conception of a mean, the two arts of measuring. + </p> + <p> + In the Theaetetus, Plato remarks that precision in the use of terms, + though sometimes pedantic, is sometimes necessary. Here he makes the + opposite reflection, that there may be a philosophical disregard of words. + The evil of mere verbal oppositions, the requirement of an impossible + accuracy in the use of terms, the error of supposing that philosophy was + to be found in language, the danger of word-catching, have frequently been + discussed by him in the previous dialogues, but nowhere has the spirit of + modern inductive philosophy been more happily indicated than in the words + of the Statesman:—'If you think more about things, and less about + words, you will be richer in wisdom as you grow older.' A similar spirit + is discernible in the remarkable expressions, 'the long and difficult + language of facts;' and 'the interrogation of every nature, in order to + obtain the particular contribution of each to the store of knowledge.' Who + has described 'the feeble intelligence of all things; given by metaphysics + better than the Eleatic Stranger in the words—'The higher ideas can + hardly be set forth except through the medium of examples; every man seems + to know all things in a kind of dream, and then again nothing when he is + awake?' Or where is the value of metaphysical pursuits more truly + expressed than in the words,—'The greatest and noblest things have + no outward image of themselves visible to man: therefore we should learn + to give a rational account of them?' + </p> + <p> + III. The political aspects of the dialogue are closely connected with the + dialectical. As in the Cratylus, the legislator has 'the dialectician + standing on his right hand;' so in the Statesman, the king or statesman is + the dialectician, who, although he may be in a private station, is still a + king. Whether he has the power or not, is a mere accident; or rather he + has the power, for what ought to be is ('Was ist vernunftig, das ist + wirklich'); and he ought to be and is the true governor of mankind. There + is a reflection in this idealism of the Socratic 'Virtue is knowledge;' + and, without idealism, we may remark that knowledge is a great part of + power. Plato does not trouble himself to construct a machinery by which + 'philosophers shall be made kings,' as in the Republic: he merely holds up + the ideal, and affirms that in some sense science is really supreme over + human life. + </p> + <p> + He is struck by the observation 'quam parva sapientia regitur mundus,' and + is touched with a feeling of the ills which afflict states. The condition + of Megara before and during the Peloponnesian War, of Athens under the + Thirty and afterwards, of Syracuse and the other Sicilian cities in their + alternations of democratic excess and tyranny, might naturally suggest + such reflections. Some states he sees already shipwrecked, others + foundering for want of a pilot; and he wonders not at their destruction, + but at their endurance. For they ought to have perished long ago, if they + had depended on the wisdom of their rulers. The mingled pathos and satire + of this remark is characteristic of Plato's later style. + </p> + <p> + The king is the personification of political science. And yet he is + something more than this,—the perfectly good and wise tyrant of the + Laws, whose will is better than any law. He is the special providence who + is always interfering with and regulating all things. Such a conception + has sometimes been entertained by modern theologians, and by Plato + himself, of the Supreme Being. But whether applied to Divine or to human + governors the conception is faulty for two reasons, neither of which are + noticed by Plato:—first, because all good government supposes a + degree of co-operation in the ruler and his subjects,—an 'education + in politics' as well as in moral virtue; secondly, because government, + whether Divine or human, implies that the subject has a previous knowledge + of the rules under which he is living. There is a fallacy, too, in + comparing unchangeable laws with a personal governor. For the law need not + necessarily be an 'ignorant and brutal tyrant,' but gentle and humane, + capable of being altered in the spirit of the legislator, and of being + administered so as to meet the cases of individuals. Not only in fact, but + in idea, both elements must remain—the fixed law and the living + will; the written word and the spirit; the principles of obligation and of + freedom; and their applications whether made by law or equity in + particular cases. + </p> + <p> + There are two sides from which positive laws may be attacked:—either + from the side of nature, which rises up and rebels against them in the + spirit of Callicles in the Gorgias; or from the side of idealism, which + attempts to soar above them,—and this is the spirit of Plato in the + Statesman. But he soon falls, like Icarus, and is content to walk instead + of flying; that is, to accommodate himself to the actual state of human + things. Mankind have long been in despair of finding the true ruler; and + therefore are ready to acquiesce in any of the five or six received forms + of government as better than none. And the best thing which they can do + (though only the second best in reality), is to reduce the ideal state to + the conditions of actual life. Thus in the Statesman, as in the Laws, we + have three forms of government, which we may venture to term, (1) the + ideal, (2) the practical, (3) the sophistical—what ought to be, what + might be, what is. And thus Plato seems to stumble, almost by accident, on + the notion of a constitutional monarchy, or of a monarchy ruling by laws. + </p> + <p> + The divine foundations of a State are to be laid deep in education + (Republic), and at the same time some little violence may be used in + exterminating natures which are incapable of education (compare Laws). + Plato is strongly of opinion that the legislator, like the physician, may + do men good against their will (compare Gorgias). The human bonds of + states are formed by the inter-marriage of dispositions adapted to supply + the defects of each other. As in the Republic, Plato has observed that + there are opposite natures in the world, the strong and the gentle, the + courageous and the temperate, which, borrowing an expression derived from + the image of weaving, he calls the warp and the woof of human society. To + interlace these is the crowning achievement of political science. In the + Protagoras, Socrates was maintaining that there was only one virtue, and + not many: now Plato is inclined to think that there are not only parallel, + but opposite virtues, and seems to see a similar opposition pervading all + art and nature. But he is satisfied with laying down the principle, and + does not inform us by what further steps the union of opposites is to be + effected. + </p> + <p> + In the loose framework of a single dialogue Plato has thus combined two + distinct subjects—politics and method. Yet they are not so far apart + as they appear: in his own mind there was a secret link of connexion + between them. For the philosopher or dialectician is also the only true + king or statesman. In the execution of his plan Plato has invented or + distinguished several important forms of thought, and made incidentally + many valuable remarks. Questions of interest both in ancient and modern + politics also arise in the course of the dialogue, which may with + advantage be further considered by us:— + </p> + <p> + a. The imaginary ruler, whether God or man, is above the law, and is a law + to himself and to others. Among the Greeks as among the Jews, law was a + sacred name, the gift of God, the bond of states. But in the Statesman of + Plato, as in the New Testament, the word has also become the symbol of an + imperfect good, which is almost an evil. The law sacrifices the individual + to the universal, and is the tyranny of the many over the few (compare + Republic). It has fixed rules which are the props of order, and will not + swerve or bend in extreme cases. It is the beginning of political society, + but there is something higher—an intelligent ruler, whether God or + man, who is able to adapt himself to the endless varieties of + circumstances. Plato is fond of picturing the advantages which would + result from the union of the tyrant who has power with the legislator who + has wisdom: he regards this as the best and speediest way of reforming + mankind. But institutions cannot thus be artificially created, nor can the + external authority of a ruler impose laws for which a nation is + unprepared. The greatest power, the highest wisdom, can only proceed one + or two steps in advance of public opinion. In all stages of civilization + human nature, after all our efforts, remains intractable,—not like + clay in the hands of the potter, or marble under the chisel of the + sculptor. Great changes occur in the history of nations, but they are + brought about slowly, like the changes in the frame of nature, upon which + the puny arm of man hardly makes an impression. And, speaking generally, + the slowest growths, both in nature and in politics, are the most + permanent. + </p> + <p> + b. Whether the best form of the ideal is a person or a law may fairly be + doubted. The former is more akin to us: it clothes itself in poetry and + art, and appeals to reason more in the form of feeling: in the latter + there is less danger of allowing ourselves to be deluded by a figure of + speech. The ideal of the Greek state found an expression in the + deification of law: the ancient Stoic spoke of a wise man perfect in + virtue, who was fancifully said to be a king; but neither they nor Plato + had arrived at the conception of a person who was also a law. Nor is it + easy for the Christian to think of God as wisdom, truth, holiness, and + also as the wise, true, and holy one. He is always wanting to break + through the abstraction and interrupt the law, in order that he may + present to himself the more familiar image of a divine friend. While the + impersonal has too slender a hold upon the affections to be made the basis + of religion, the conception of a person on the other hand tends to + degenerate into a new kind of idolatry. Neither criticism nor experience + allows us to suppose that there are interferences with the laws of nature; + the idea is inconceivable to us and at variance with facts. The + philosopher or theologian who could realize to mankind that a person is a + law, that the higher rule has no exception, that goodness, like knowledge, + is also power, would breathe a new religious life into the world. + </p> + <p> + c. Besides the imaginary rule of a philosopher or a God, the actual forms + of government have to be considered. In the infancy of political science, + men naturally ask whether the rule of the many or of the few is to be + preferred. If by 'the few' we mean 'the good' and by 'the many,' 'the + bad,' there can be but one reply: 'The rule of one good man is better than + the rule of all the rest, if they are bad.' For, as Heracleitus says, 'One + is ten thousand if he be the best.' If, however, we mean by the rule of + the few the rule of a class neither better nor worse than other classes, + not devoid of a feeling of right, but guided mostly by a sense of their + own interests, and by the rule of the many the rule of all classes, + similarly under the influence of mixed motives, no one would hesitate to + answer—'The rule of all rather than one, because all classes are + more likely to take care of all than one of another; and the government + has greater power and stability when resting on a wider basis.' Both in + ancient and modern times the best balanced form of government has been + held to be the best; and yet it should not be so nicely balanced as to + make action and movement impossible. + </p> + <p> + The statesman who builds his hope upon the aristocracy, upon the middle + classes, upon the people, will probably, if he have sufficient experience + of them, conclude that all classes are much alike, and that one is as good + as another, and that the liberties of no class are safe in the hands of + the rest. The higher ranks have the advantage in education and manners, + the middle and lower in industry and self-denial; in every class, to a + certain extent, a natural sense of right prevails, sometimes communicated + from the lower to the higher, sometimes from the higher to the lower, + which is too strong for class interests. There have been crises in the + history of nations, as at the time of the Crusades or the Reformation, or + the French Revolution, when the same inspiration has taken hold of whole + peoples, and permanently raised the sense of freedom and justice among + mankind. + </p> + <p> + But even supposing the different classes of a nation, when viewed + impartially, to be on a level with each other in moral virtue, there + remain two considerations of opposite kinds which enter into the problem + of government. Admitting of course that the upper and lower classes are + equal in the eye of God and of the law, yet the one may be by nature + fitted to govern and the other to be governed. A ruling caste does not + soon altogether lose the governing qualities, nor a subject class easily + acquire them. Hence the phenomenon so often observed in the old Greek + revolutions, and not without parallel in modern times, that the leaders of + the democracy have been themselves of aristocratic origin. The people are + expecting to be governed by representatives of their own, but the true man + of the people either never appears, or is quickly altered by + circumstances. Their real wishes hardly make themselves felt, although + their lower interests and prejudices may sometimes be flattered and + yielded to for the sake of ulterior objects by those who have political + power. They will often learn by experience that the democracy has become a + plutocracy. The influence of wealth, though not the enjoyment of it, has + become diffused among the poor as well as among the rich; and society, + instead of being safer, is more at the mercy of the tyrant, who, when + things are at the worst, obtains a guard—that is, an army—and + announces himself as the saviour. + </p> + <p> + The other consideration is of an opposite kind. Admitting that a few wise + men are likely to be better governors than the unwise many, yet it is not + in their power to fashion an entire people according to their behest. When + with the best intentions the benevolent despot begins his regime, he finds + the world hard to move. A succession of good kings has at the end of a + century left the people an inert and unchanged mass. The Roman world was + not permanently improved by the hundred years of Hadrian and the + Antonines. The kings of Spain during the last century were at least equal + to any contemporary sovereigns in virtue and ability. In certain states of + the world the means are wanting to render a benevolent power effectual. + These means are not a mere external organisation of posts or telegraphs, + hardly the introduction of new laws or modes of industry. A change must be + made in the spirit of a people as well as in their externals. The ancient + legislator did not really take a blank tablet and inscribe upon it the + rules which reflection and experience had taught him to be for a nation's + interest; no one would have obeyed him if he had. But he took the customs + which he found already existing in a half-civilised state of society: + these he reduced to form and inscribed on pillars; he defined what had + before been undefined, and gave certainty to what was uncertain. No + legislation ever sprang, like Athene, in full power out of the head either + of God or man. + </p> + <p> + Plato and Aristotle are sensible of the difficulty of combining the wisdom + of the few with the power of the many. According to Plato, he is a + physician who has the knowledge of a physician, and he is a king who has + the knowledge of a king. But how the king, one or more, is to obtain the + required power, is hardly at all considered by him. He presents the idea + of a perfect government, but except the regulation for mixing different + tempers in marriage, he never makes any provision for the attainment of + it. Aristotle, casting aside ideals, would place the government in a + middle class of citizens, sufficiently numerous for stability, without + admitting the populace; and such appears to have been the constitution + which actually prevailed for a short time at Athens—the rule of the + Five Thousand—characterized by Thucydides as the best government of + Athens which he had known. It may however be doubted how far, either in a + Greek or modern state, such a limitation is practicable or desirable; for + those who are left outside the pale will always be dangerous to those who + are within, while on the other hand the leaven of the mob can hardly + affect the representation of a great country. There is reason for the + argument in favour of a property qualification; there is reason also in + the arguments of those who would include all and so exhaust the political + situation. + </p> + <p> + The true answer to the question is relative to the circumstances of + nations. How can we get the greatest intelligence combined with the + greatest power? The ancient legislator would have found this question more + easy than we do. For he would have required that all persons who had a + share of government should have received their education from the state + and have borne her burdens, and should have served in her fleets and + armies. But though we sometimes hear the cry that we must 'educate the + masses, for they are our masters,' who would listen to a proposal that the + franchise should be confined to the educated or to those who fulfil + political duties? Then again, we know that the masses are not our masters, + and that they are more likely to become so if we educate them. In modern + politics so many interests have to be consulted that we are compelled to + do, not what is best, but what is possible. + </p> + <p> + d. Law is the first principle of society, but it cannot supply all the + wants of society, and may easily cause more evils than it cures. Plato is + aware of the imperfection of law in failing to meet the varieties of + circumstances: he is also aware that human life would be intolerable if + every detail of it were placed under legal regulation. It may be a great + evil that physicians should kill their patients or captains cast away + their ships, but it would be a far greater evil if each particular in the + practice of medicine or seamanship were regulated by law. Much has been + said in modern times about the duty of leaving men to themselves, which is + supposed to be the best way of taking care of them. The question is often + asked, What are the limits of legislation in relation to morals? And the + answer is to the same effect, that morals must take care of themselves. + There is a one-sided truth in these answers, if they are regarded as + condemnations of the interference with commerce in the last century or of + clerical persecution in the Middle Ages. But 'laissez-faire' is not the + best but only the second best. What the best is, Plato does not attempt to + determine; he only contrasts the imperfection of law with the wisdom of + the perfect ruler. + </p> + <p> + Laws should be just, but they must also be certain, and we are obliged to + sacrifice something of their justice to their certainty. Suppose a wise + and good judge, who paying little or no regard to the law, attempted to + decide with perfect justice the cases that were brought before him. To the + uneducated person he would appear to be the ideal of a judge. Such justice + has been often exercised in primitive times, or at the present day among + eastern rulers. But in the first place it depends entirely on the personal + character of the judge. He may be honest, but there is no check upon his + dishonesty, and his opinion can only be overruled, not by any principle of + law, but by the opinion of another judging like himself without law. In + the second place, even if he be ever so honest, his mode of deciding + questions would introduce an element of uncertainty into human life; no + one would know beforehand what would happen to him, or would seek to + conform in his conduct to any rule of law. For the compact which the law + makes with men, that they shall be protected if they observe the law in + their dealings with one another, would have to be substituted another + principle of a more general character, that they shall be protected by the + law if they act rightly in their dealings with one another. The complexity + of human actions and also the uncertainty of their effects would be + increased tenfold. For one of the principal advantages of law is not + merely that it enforces honesty, but that it makes men act in the same + way, and requires them to produce the same evidence of their acts. Too + many laws may be the sign of a corrupt and overcivilized state of society, + too few are the sign of an uncivilized one; as soon as commerce begins to + grow, men make themselves customs which have the validity of laws. Even + equity, which is the exception to the law, conforms to fixed rules and + lies for the most part within the limits of previous decisions. + </p> + <p> + IV. The bitterness of the Statesman is characteristic of Plato's later + style, in which the thoughts of youth and love have fled away, and we are + no longer tended by the Muses or the Graces. We do not venture to say that + Plato was soured by old age, but certainly the kindliness and courtesy of + the earlier dialogues have disappeared. He sees the world under a harder + and grimmer aspect: he is dealing with the reality of things, not with + visions or pictures of them: he is seeking by the aid of dialectic only, + to arrive at truth. He is deeply impressed with the importance of + classification: in this alone he finds the true measure of human things; + and very often in the process of division curious results are obtained. + For the dialectical art is no respecter of persons: king and vermin-taker + are all alike to the philosopher. There may have been a time when the king + was a god, but he now is pretty much on a level with his subjects in + breeding and education. Man should be well advised that he is only one of + the animals, and the Hellene in particular should be aware that he himself + was the author of the distinction between Hellene and Barbarian, and that + the Phrygian would equally divide mankind into Phrygians and Barbarians, + and that some intelligent animal, like a crane, might go a step further, + and divide the animal world into cranes and all other animals. Plato + cannot help laughing (compare Theaet.) when he thinks of the king running + after his subjects, like the pig-driver or the bird-taker. He would + seriously have him consider how many competitors there are to his throne, + chiefly among the class of serving-men. A good deal of meaning is lurking + in the expression—'There is no art of feeding mankind worthy the + name.' There is a similar depth in the remark,—'The wonder about + states is not that they are short-lived, but that they last so long in + spite of the badness of their rulers.' + </p> + <p> + V. There is also a paradoxical element in the Statesman which delights in + reversing the accustomed use of words. The law which to the Greek was the + highest object of reverence is an ignorant and brutal tyrant—the + tyrant is converted into a beneficent king. The sophist too is no longer, + as in the earlier dialogues, the rival of the statesman, but assumes his + form. Plato sees that the ideal of the state in his own day is more and + more severed from the actual. From such ideals as he had once formed, he + turns away to contemplate the decline of the Greek cities which were far + worse now in his old age than they had been in his youth, and were to + become worse and worse in the ages which followed. He cannot contain his + disgust at the contemporary statesmen, sophists who had turned + politicians, in various forms of men and animals, appearing, some like + lions and centaurs, others like satyrs and monkeys. In this new disguise + the Sophists make their last appearance on the scene: in the Laws Plato + appears to have forgotten them, or at any rate makes only a slight + allusion to them in a single passage (Laws). + </p> + <p> + VI. The Statesman is naturally connected with the Sophist. At first sight + we are surprised to find that the Eleatic Stranger discourses to us, not + only concerning the nature of Being and Not-being, but concerning the king + and statesman. We perceive, however, that there is no inappropriateness in + his maintaining the character of chief speaker, when we remember the close + connexion which is assumed by Plato to exist between politics and + dialectic. In both dialogues the Proteus Sophist is exhibited, first, in + the disguise of an Eristic, secondly, of a false statesman. There are + several lesser features which the two dialogues have in common. The styles + and the situations of the speakers are very similar; there is the same + love of division, and in both of them the mind of the writer is greatly + occupied about method, to which he had probably intended to return in the + projected 'Philosopher.' + </p> + <p> + The Statesman stands midway between the Republic and the Laws, and is also + related to the Timaeus. The mythical or cosmical element reminds us of the + Timaeus, the ideal of the Republic. A previous chaos in which the elements + as yet were not, is hinted at both in the Timaeus and Statesman. The same + ingenious arts of giving verisimilitude to a fiction are practised in both + dialogues, and in both, as well as in the myth at the end of the Republic, + Plato touches on the subject of necessity and free-will. The words in + which he describes the miseries of states seem to be an amplification of + the 'Cities will never cease from ill' of the Republic. The point of view + in both is the same; and the differences not really important, e.g. in the + myth, or in the account of the different kinds of states. But the + treatment of the subject in the Statesman is fragmentary, and the shorter + and later work, as might be expected, is less finished, and less worked + out in detail. The idea of measure and the arrangement of the sciences + supply connecting links both with the Republic and the Philebus. + </p> + <p> + More than any of the preceding dialogues, the Statesman seems to + approximate in thought and language to the Laws. There is the same decline + and tendency to monotony in style, the same self-consciousness, + awkwardness, and over-civility; and in the Laws is contained the pattern + of that second best form of government, which, after all, is admitted to + be the only attainable one in this world. The 'gentle violence,' the + marriage of dissimilar natures, the figure of the warp and the woof, are + also found in the Laws. Both expressly recognize the conception of a first + or ideal state, which has receded into an invisible heaven. Nor does the + account of the origin and growth of society really differ in them, if we + make allowance for the mythic character of the narrative in the Statesman. + The virtuous tyrant is common to both of them; and the Eleatic Stranger + takes up a position similar to that of the Athenian Stranger in the Laws. + </p> + <p> + VII. There would have been little disposition to doubt the genuineness of + the Sophist and Statesman, if they had been compared with the Laws rather + than with the Republic, and the Laws had been received, as they ought to + be, on the authority of Aristotle and on the ground of their intrinsic + excellence, as an undoubted work of Plato. The detailed consideration of + the genuineness and order of the Platonic dialogues has been reserved for + another place: a few of the reasons for defending the Sophist and + Statesman may be given here. + </p> + <p> + 1. The excellence, importance, and metaphysical originality of the two + dialogues: no works at once so good and of such length are known to have + proceeded from the hands of a forger. + </p> + <p> + 2. The resemblances in them to other dialogues of Plato are such as might + be expected to be found in works of the same author, and not in those of + an imitator, being too subtle and minute to have been invented by another. + The similar passages and turns of thought are generally inferior to the + parallel passages in his earlier writings; and we might a priori have + expected that, if altered, they would have been improved. But the + comparison of the Laws proves that this repetition of his own thoughts and + words in an inferior form is characteristic of Plato's later style. + </p> + <p> + 3. The close connexion of them with the Theaetetus, Parmenides, and + Philebus, involves the fate of these dialogues, as well as of the two + suspected ones. + </p> + <p> + 4. The suspicion of them seems mainly to rest on a presumption that in + Plato's writings we may expect to find an uniform type of doctrine and + opinion. But however we arrange the order, or narrow the circle of the + dialogues, we must admit that they exhibit a growth and progress in the + mind of Plato. And the appearance of change or progress is not to be + regarded as impugning the genuineness of any particular writings, but may + be even an argument in their favour. If we suppose the Sophist and + Politicus to stand halfway between the Republic and the Laws, and in near + connexion with the Theaetetus, the Parmenides, the Philebus, the arguments + against them derived from differences of thought and style disappear or + may be said without paradox in some degree to confirm their genuineness. + There is no such interval between the Republic or Phaedrus and the two + suspected dialogues, as that which separates all the earlier writings of + Plato from the Laws. And the Theaetetus, Parmenides, and Philebus, supply + links, by which, however different from them, they may be reunited with + the great body of the Platonic writings. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + STATESMAN + </h2> + <p> + PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: Theodorus, Socrates, The Eleatic Stranger, The + Younger Socrates. + </p> + <p> + SOCRATES: I owe you many thanks, indeed, Theodorus, for the acquaintance + both of Theaetetus and of the Stranger. + </p> + <p> + THEODORUS: And in a little while, Socrates, you will owe me three times as + many, when they have completed for you the delineation of the Statesman + and of the Philosopher, as well as of the Sophist. + </p> + <p> + SOCRATES: Sophist, statesman, philosopher! O my dear Theodorus, do my ears + truly witness that this is the estimate formed of them by the great + calculator and geometrician? + </p> + <p> + THEODORUS: What do you mean, Socrates? + </p> + <p> + SOCRATES: I mean that you rate them all at the same value, whereas they + are really separated by an interval, which no geometrical ratio can + express. + </p> + <p> + THEODORUS: By Ammon, the god of Cyrene, Socrates, that is a very fair hit; + and shows that you have not forgotten your geometry. I will retaliate on + you at some other time, but I must now ask the Stranger, who will not, I + hope, tire of his goodness to us, to proceed either with the Statesman or + with the Philosopher, whichever he prefers. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: That is my duty, Theodorus; having begun I must go on, and not + leave the work unfinished. But what shall be done with Theaetetus? + </p> + <p> + THEODORUS: In what respect? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Shall we relieve him, and take his companion, the Young + Socrates, instead of him? What do you advise? + </p> + <p> + THEODORUS: Yes, give the other a turn, as you propose. The young always do + better when they have intervals of rest. + </p> + <p> + SOCRATES: I think, Stranger, that both of them may be said to be in some + way related to me; for the one, as you affirm, has the cut of my ugly face + (compare Theaet.), the other is called by my name. And we should always be + on the look-out to recognize a kinsman by the style of his conversation. I + myself was discoursing with Theaetetus yesterday, and I have just been + listening to his answers; my namesake I have not yet examined, but I must. + Another time will do for me; to-day let him answer you. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Very good. Young Socrates, do you hear what the elder Socrates + is proposing? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: I do. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And do you agree to his proposal? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: As you do not object, still less can I. After the Sophist, then, + I think that the Statesman naturally follows next in the order of enquiry. + And please to say, whether he, too, should be ranked among those who have + science. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then the sciences must be divided as before? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: I dare say. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But yet the division will not be the same? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How then? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: They will be divided at some other point. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Where shall we discover the path of the Statesman? We must find + and separate off, and set our seal upon this, and we will set the mark of + another class upon all diverging paths. Thus the soul will conceive of all + kinds of knowledge under two classes. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: To find the path is your business, Stranger, and not mine. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Yes, Socrates, but the discovery, when once made, must be yours + as well as mine. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very good. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Well, and are not arithmetic and certain other kindred arts, + merely abstract knowledge, wholly separated from action? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But in the art of carpentering and all other handicrafts, the + knowledge of the workman is merged in his work; he not only knows, but he + also makes things which previously did not exist. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then let us divide sciences in general into those which are + practical and those which are purely intellectual. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Let us assume these two divisions of science, which is one + whole. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And are 'statesman,' 'king,' 'master,' or 'householder,' one and + the same; or is there a science or art answering to each of these names? + Or rather, allow me to put the matter in another way. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Let me hear. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: If any one who is in a private station has the skill to advise + one of the public physicians, must not he also be called a physician? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And if any one who is in a private station is able to advise the + ruler of a country, may not he be said to have the knowledge which the + ruler himself ought to have? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But surely the science of a true king is royal science? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And will not he who possesses this knowledge, whether he happens + to be a ruler or a private man, when regarded only in reference to his + art, be truly called 'royal'? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: He certainly ought to be. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And the householder and master are the same? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Of course. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Again, a large household may be compared to a small state:—will + they differ at all, as far as government is concerned? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: They will not. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then, returning to the point which we were just now discussing, + do we not clearly see that there is one science of all of them; and this + science may be called either royal or political or economical; we will not + quarrel with any one about the name. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly not. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: This too, is evident, that the king cannot do much with his + hands, or with his whole body, towards the maintenance of his empire, + compared with what he does by the intelligence and strength of his mind. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Clearly not. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then, shall we say that the king has a greater affinity to + knowledge than to manual arts and to practical life in general? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly he has. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then we may put all together as one and the same—statesmanship + and the statesman—the kingly science and the king. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Clearly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And now we shall only be proceeding in due order if we go on to + divide the sphere of knowledge? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very good. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Think whether you can find any joint or parting in knowledge. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Tell me of what sort. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Such as this: You may remember that we made an art of + calculation? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Which was, unmistakeably, one of the arts of knowledge? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And to this art of calculation which discerns the differences of + numbers shall we assign any other function except to pass judgment on + their differences? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How could we? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: You know that the master-builder does not work himself, but is + the ruler of workmen? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: He contributes knowledge, not manual labour? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And may therefore be justly said to share in theoretical + science? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Quite true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But he ought not, like the calculator, to regard his functions + as at an end when he has formed a judgment;—he must assign to the + individual workmen their appropriate task until they have completed the + work. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Are not all such sciences, no less than arithmetic and the like, + subjects of pure knowledge; and is not the difference between the two + classes, that the one sort has the power of judging only, and the other of + ruling as well? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: That is evident. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: May we not very properly say, that of all knowledge, there are + two divisions—one which rules, and the other which judges? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: I should think so. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And when men have anything to do in common, that they should be + of one mind is surely a desirable thing? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then while we are at unity among ourselves, we need not mind + about the fancies of others? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly not. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And now, in which of these divisions shall we place the king?—Is + he a judge and a kind of spectator? Or shall we assign to him the art of + command—for he is a ruler? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: The latter, clearly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then we must see whether there is any mark of division in the + art of command too. I am inclined to think that there is a distinction + similar to that of manufacturer and retail dealer, which parts off the + king from the herald. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How is this? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Why, does not the retailer receive and sell over again the + productions of others, which have been sold before? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly he does. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And is not the herald under command, and does he not receive + orders, and in his turn give them to others? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then shall we mingle the kingly art in the same class with the + art of the herald, the interpreter, the boatswain, the prophet, and the + numerous kindred arts which exercise command; or, as in the preceding + comparison we spoke of manufacturers, or sellers for themselves, and of + retailers,—seeing, too, that the class of supreme rulers, or rulers + for themselves, is almost nameless—shall we make a word following + the same analogy, and refer kings to a supreme or ruling-for-self science, + leaving the rest to receive a name from some one else? For we are seeking + the ruler; and our enquiry is not concerned with him who is not a ruler. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very good. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Thus a very fair distinction has been attained between the man + who gives his own commands, and him who gives another's. And now let us + see if the supreme power allows of any further division. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: By all means. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I think that it does; and please to assist me in making the + division. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: At what point? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: May not all rulers be supposed to command for the sake of + producing something? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Nor is there any difficulty in dividing the things produced into + two classes. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How would you divide them? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Of the whole class, some have life and some are without life. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And by the help of this distinction we may make, if we please, a + subdivision of the section of knowledge which commands. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: At what point? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: One part may be set over the production of lifeless, the other + of living objects; and in this way the whole will be divided. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: That division, then, is complete; and now we may leave one half, + and take up the other; which may also be divided into two. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Which of the two halves do you mean? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Of course that which exercises command about animals. For, + surely, the royal science is not like that of a master-workman, a science + presiding over lifeless objects;—the king has a nobler function, + which is the management and control of living beings. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And the breeding and tending of living beings may be observed to + be sometimes a tending of the individual; in other cases, a common care of + creatures in flocks? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But the statesman is not a tender of individuals—not like + the driver or groom of a single ox or horse; he is rather to be compared + with the keeper of a drove of horses or oxen. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes, I see, thanks to you. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Shall we call this art of tending many animals together, the art + of managing a herd, or the art of collective management? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: No matter;—whichever suggests itself to us in the + course of conversation. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Very good, Socrates; and, if you continue to be not too + particular about names, you will be all the richer in wisdom when you are + an old man. And now, as you say, leaving the discussion of the name,—can + you see a way in which a person, by showing the art of herding to be of + two kinds, may cause that which is now sought amongst twice the number of + things, to be then sought amongst half that number? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: I will try;—there appears to me to be one management + of men and another of beasts. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: You have certainly divided them in a most straightforward and + manly style; but you have fallen into an error which hereafter I think + that we had better avoid. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What is the error? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I think that we had better not cut off a single small portion + which is not a species, from many larger portions; the part should be a + species. To separate off at once the subject of investigation, is a most + excellent plan, if only the separation be rightly made; and you were under + the impression that you were right, because you saw that you would come to + man; and this led you to hasten the steps. But you should not chip off too + small a piece, my friend; the safer way is to cut through the middle; + which is also the more likely way of finding classes. Attention to this + principle makes all the difference in a process of enquiry. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What do you mean, Stranger? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I will endeavour to speak more plainly out of love to your good + parts, Socrates; and, although I cannot at present entirely explain + myself, I will try, as we proceed, to make my meaning a little clearer. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What was the error of which, as you say, we were guilty in + our recent division? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The error was just as if some one who wanted to divide the human + race, were to divide them after the fashion which prevails in this part of + the world; here they cut off the Hellenes as one species, and all the + other species of mankind, which are innumerable, and have no ties or + common language, they include under the single name of 'barbarians,' and + because they have one name they are supposed to be of one species also. Or + suppose that in dividing numbers you were to cut off ten thousand from all + the rest, and make of it one species, comprehending the rest under another + separate name, you might say that here too was a single class, because you + had given it a single name. Whereas you would make a much better and more + equal and logical classification of numbers, if you divided them into odd + and even; or of the human species, if you divided them into male and + female; and only separated off Lydians or Phrygians, or any other tribe, + and arrayed them against the rest of the world, when you could no longer + make a division into parts which were also classes. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true; but I wish that this distinction between a part + and a class could still be made somewhat plainer. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: O Socrates, best of men, you are imposing upon me a very + difficult task. We have already digressed further from our original + intention than we ought, and you would have us wander still further away. + But we must now return to our subject; and hereafter, when there is a + leisure hour, we will follow up the other track; at the same time, I wish + you to guard against imagining that you ever heard me declare— + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: That a class and a part are distinct. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What did I hear, then? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: That a class is necessarily a part, but there is no similar + necessity that a part should be a class; that is the view which I should + always wish you to attribute to me, Socrates. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: So be it. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: There is another thing which I should like to know. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What is it? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The point at which we digressed; for, if I am not mistaken, the + exact place was at the question, Where you would divide the management of + herds. To this you appeared rather too ready to answer that there were two + species of animals; man being one, and all brutes making up the other. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I thought that in taking away a part, you imagined that the + remainder formed a class, because you were able to call them by the common + name of brutes. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: That again is true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Suppose now, O most courageous of dialecticians, that some wise + and understanding creature, such as a crane is reputed to be, were, in + imitation of you, to make a similar division, and set up cranes against + all other animals to their own special glorification, at the same time + jumbling together all the others, including man, under the appellation of + brutes,—here would be the sort of error which we must try to avoid. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How can we be safe? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: If we do not divide the whole class of animals, we shall be less + likely to fall into that error. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: We had better not take the whole? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Yes, there lay the source of error in our former division. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: You remember how that part of the art of knowledge which was + concerned with command, had to do with the rearing of living creatures,—I + mean, with animals in herds? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: In that case, there was already implied a division of all + animals into tame and wild; those whose nature can be tamed are called + tame, and those which cannot be tamed are called wild. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And the political science of which we are in search, is and ever + was concerned with tame animals, and is also confined to gregarious + animals. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But then we ought not to divide, as we did, taking the whole + class at once. Neither let us be in too great haste to arrive quickly at + the political science; for this mistake has already brought upon us the + misfortune of which the proverb speaks. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What misfortune? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The misfortune of too much haste, which is too little speed. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: And all the better, Stranger;—we got what we + deserved. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Very well: Let us then begin again, and endeavour to divide the + collective rearing of animals; for probably the completion of the argument + will best show what you are so anxious to know. Tell me, then— + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Have you ever heard, as you very likely may—for I do not + suppose that you ever actually visited them—of the preserves of + fishes in the Nile, and in the ponds of the Great King; or you may have + seen similar preserves in wells at home? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes, to be sure, I have seen them, and I have often heard + the others described. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And you may have heard also, and may have been assured by + report, although you have not travelled in those regions, of nurseries of + geese and cranes in the plains of Thessaly? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I asked you, because here is a new division of the management of + herds, into the management of land and of water herds. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: There is. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And do you agree that we ought to divide the collective rearing + of herds into two corresponding parts, the one the rearing of water, and + the other the rearing of land herds? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: There is surely no need to ask which of these two contains the + royal art, for it is evident to everybody. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Any one can divide the herds which feed on dry land? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How would you divide them? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I should distinguish between those which fly and those which + walk. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Most true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And where shall we look for the political animal? Might not an + idiot, so to speak, know that he is a pedestrian? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The art of managing the walking animal has to be further + divided, just as you might halve an even number. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Clearly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Let me note that here appear in view two ways to that part or + class which the argument aims at reaching,—the one a speedier way, + which cuts off a small portion and leaves a large; the other agrees better + with the principle which we were laying down, that as far as we can we + should divide in the middle; but it is longer. We can take either of them, + whichever we please. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Cannot we have both ways? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Together? What a thing to ask! but, if you take them in turn, + you clearly may. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Then I should like to have them in turn. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: There will be no difficulty, as we are near the end; if we had + been at the beginning, or in the middle, I should have demurred to your + request; but now, in accordance with your desire, let us begin with the + longer way; while we are fresh, we shall get on better. And now attend to + the division. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Let me hear. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The tame walking herding animals are distributed by nature into + two classes. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Upon what principle? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The one grows horns; and the other is without horns. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Clearly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Suppose that you divide the science which manages pedestrian + animals into two corresponding parts, and define them; for if you try to + invent names for them, you will find the intricacy too great. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How must I speak of them, then? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: In this way: let the science of managing pedestrian animals be + divided into two parts, and one part assigned to the horned herd, and the + other to the herd that has no horns. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: All that you say has been abundantly proved, and may + therefore be assumed. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The king is clearly the shepherd of a polled herd, who have no + horns. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: That is evident. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Shall we break up this hornless herd into sections, and + endeavour to assign to him what is his? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: By all means. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Shall we distinguish them by their having or not having cloven + feet, or by their mixing or not mixing the breed? You know what I mean. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I mean that horses and asses naturally breed from one another. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But the remainder of the hornless herd of tame animals will not + mix the breed. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And of which has the Statesman charge,—of the mixed or of + the unmixed race? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Clearly of the unmixed. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I suppose that we must divide this again as before. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: We must. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Every tame and herding animal has now been split up, with the + exception of two species; for I hardly think that dogs should be reckoned + among gregarious animals. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly not; but how shall we divide the two remaining + species? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: There is a measure of difference which may be appropriately + employed by you and Theaetetus, who are students of geometry. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What is that? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The diameter; and, again, the diameter of a diameter. (Compare + Meno.) + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What do you mean? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: How does man walk, but as a diameter whose power is two feet? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Just so. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And the power of the remaining kind, being the power of twice + two feet, may be said to be the diameter of our diameter. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly; and now I think that I pretty nearly understand + you. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: In these divisions, Socrates, I descry what would make another + famous jest. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What is it? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Human beings have come out in the same class with the freest and + airiest of creation, and have been running a race with them. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: I remark that very singular coincidence. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And would you not expect the slowest to arrive last? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Indeed I should. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And there is a still more ridiculous consequence, that the king + is found running about with the herd and in close competition with the + bird-catcher, who of all mankind is most of an adept at the airy life. + (Plato is here introducing a new subdivision, i.e. that of bipeds into men + and birds. Others however refer the passage to the division into + quadrupeds and bipeds, making pigs compete with human beings and the + pig-driver with the king. According to this explanation we must translate + the words above, 'freest and airiest of creation,' 'worthiest and laziest + of creation.') + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then here, Socrates, is still clearer evidence of the truth of + what was said in the enquiry about the Sophist? (Compare Sophist.) + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: That the dialectical method is no respecter of persons, and does + not set the great above the small, but always arrives in her own way at + the truest result. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Clearly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And now, I will not wait for you to ask, but will of my own + accord take you by the shorter road to the definition of a king. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: By all means. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I say that we should have begun at first by dividing land + animals into biped and quadruped; and since the winged herd, and that + alone, comes out in the same class with man, we should divide bipeds into + those which have feathers and those which have not, and when they have + been divided, and the art of the management of mankind is brought to + light, the time will have come to produce our Statesman and ruler, and set + him like a charioteer in his place, and hand over to him the reins of + state, for that too is a vocation which belongs to him. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very good; you have paid me the debt,—I mean, that + you have completed the argument, and I suppose that you added the + digression by way of interest. (Compare Republic.) + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then now, let us go back to the beginning, and join the links, + which together make the definition of the name of the Statesman's art. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: By all means. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The science of pure knowledge had, as we said originally, a part + which was the science of rule or command, and from this was derived + another part, which was called command-for-self, on the analogy of + selling-for-self; an important section of this was the management of + living animals, and this again was further limited to the management of + them in herds; and again in herds of pedestrian animals. The chief + division of the latter was the art of managing pedestrian animals which + are without horns; this again has a part which can only be comprehended + under one term by joining together three names—shepherding pure-bred + animals. The only further subdivision is the art of man-herding,—this + has to do with bipeds, and is what we were seeking after, and have now + found, being at once the royal and political. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: To be sure. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And do you think, Socrates, that we really have done as you say? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Do you think, I mean, that we have really fulfilled our + intention?—There has been a sort of discussion, and yet the + investigation seems to me not to be perfectly worked out: this is where + the enquiry fails. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: I do not understand. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I will try to make the thought, which is at this moment present + in my mind, clearer to us both. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Let me hear. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: There were many arts of shepherding, and one of them was the + political, which had the charge of one particular herd? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And this the argument defined to be the art of rearing, not + horses or other brutes, but the art of rearing man collectively? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Note, however, a difference which distinguishes the king from + all other shepherds. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: To what do you refer? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I want to ask, whether any one of the other herdsmen has a rival + who professes and claims to share with him in the management of the herd? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What do you mean? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I mean to say that merchants, husbandmen, providers of food, and + also training-masters and physicians, will all contend with the herdsmen + of humanity, whom we call Statesmen, declaring that they themselves have + the care of rearing or managing mankind, and that they rear not only the + common herd, but also the rulers themselves. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Are they not right in saying so? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Very likely they may be, and we will consider their claim. But + we are certain of this,—that no one will raise a similar claim as + against the herdsman, who is allowed on all hands to be the sole and only + feeder and physician of his herd; he is also their match-maker and + accoucheur; no one else knows that department of science. And he is their + merry-maker and musician, as far as their nature is susceptible of such + influences, and no one can console and soothe his own herd better than he + can, either with the natural tones of his voice or with instruments. And + the same may be said of tenders of animals in general. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But if this is as you say, can our argument about the king be + true and unimpeachable? Were we right in selecting him out of ten thousand + other claimants to be the shepherd and rearer of the human flock? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Surely not. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Had we not reason just to now to apprehend, that although we may + have described a sort of royal form, we have not as yet accurately worked + out the true image of the Statesman? and that we cannot reveal him as he + truly is in his own nature, until we have disengaged and separated him + from those who hang about him and claim to share in his prerogatives? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And that, Socrates, is what we must do, if we do not mean to + bring disgrace upon the argument at its close. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: We must certainly avoid that. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then let us make a new beginning, and travel by a different + road. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What road? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I think that we may have a little amusement; there is a famous + tale, of which a good portion may with advantage be interwoven, and then + we may resume our series of divisions, and proceed in the old path until + we arrive at the desired summit. Shall we do as I say? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: By all means. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Listen, then, to a tale which a child would love to hear; and + you are not too old for childish amusement. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Let me hear. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: There did really happen, and will again happen, like many other + events of which ancient tradition has preserved the record, the portent + which is traditionally said to have occurred in the quarrel of Atreus and + Thyestes. You have heard, no doubt, and remember what they say happened at + that time? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: I suppose you to mean the token of the birth of the golden + lamb. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: No, not that; but another part of the story, which tells how the + sun and the stars once rose in the west, and set in the east, and that the + god reversed their motion, and gave them that which they now have as a + testimony to the right of Atreus. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes; there is that legend also. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Again, we have been often told of the reign of Cronos. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes, very often. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Did you ever hear that the men of former times were earth-born, + and not begotten of one another? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes, that is another old tradition. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: All these stories, and ten thousand others which are still more + wonderful, have a common origin; many of them have been lost in the lapse + of ages, or are repeated only in a disconnected form; but the origin of + them is what no one has told, and may as well be told now; for the tale is + suited to throw light on the nature of the king. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very good; and I hope that you will give the whole story, + and leave out nothing. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Listen, then. There is a time when God himself guides and helps + to roll the world in its course; and there is a time, on the completion of + a certain cycle, when he lets go, and the world being a living creature, + and having originally received intelligence from its author and creator, + turns about and by an inherent necessity revolves in the opposite + direction. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Why is that? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Why, because only the most divine things of all remain ever + unchanged and the same, and body is not included in this class. Heaven and + the universe, as we have termed them, although they have been endowed by + the Creator with many glories, partake of a bodily nature, and therefore + cannot be entirely free from perturbation. But their motion is, as far as + possible, single and in the same place, and of the same kind; and is + therefore only subject to a reversal, which is the least alteration + possible. For the lord of all moving things is alone able to move of + himself; and to think that he moves them at one time in one direction and + at another time in another is blasphemy. Hence we must not say that the + world is either self-moved always, or all made to go round by God in two + opposite courses; or that two Gods, having opposite purposes, make it move + round. But as I have already said (and this is the only remaining + alternative) the world is guided at one time by an external power which is + divine and receives fresh life and immortality from the renewing hand of + the Creator, and again, when let go, moves spontaneously, being set free + at such a time as to have, during infinite cycles of years, a reverse + movement: this is due to its perfect balance, to its vast size, and to the + fact that it turns on the smallest pivot. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Your account of the world seems to be very reasonable + indeed. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Let us now reflect and try to gather from what has been said the + nature of the phenomenon which we affirmed to be the cause of all these + wonders. It is this. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The reversal which takes place from time to time of the motion + of the universe. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How is that the cause? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Of all changes of the heavenly motions, we may consider this to + be the greatest and most complete. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: I should imagine so. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And it may be supposed to result in the greatest changes to the + human beings who are the inhabitants of the world at the time. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Such changes would naturally occur. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And animals, as we know, survive with difficulty great and + serious changes of many different kinds when they come upon them at once. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Hence there necessarily occurs a great destruction of them, + which extends also to the life of man; few survivors of the race are left, + and those who remain become the subjects of several novel and remarkable + phenomena, and of one in particular, which takes place at the time when + the transition is made to the cycle opposite to that in which we are now + living. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What is it? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The life of all animals first came to a standstill, and the + mortal nature ceased to be or look older, and was then reversed and grew + young and delicate; the white locks of the aged darkened again, and the + cheeks the bearded man became smooth, and recovered their former bloom; + the bodies of youths in their prime grew softer and smaller, continually + by day and night returning and becoming assimilated to the nature of a + newly-born child in mind as well as body; in the succeeding stage they + wasted away and wholly disappeared. And the bodies of those who died by + violence at that time quickly passed through the like changes, and in a + few days were no more seen. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Then how, Stranger, were the animals created in those + days; and in what way were they begotten of one another? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: It is evident, Socrates, that there was no such thing in the + then order of nature as the procreation of animals from one another; the + earth-born race, of which we hear in story, was the one which existed in + those days—they rose again from the ground; and of this tradition, + which is now-a-days often unduly discredited, our ancestors, who were + nearest in point of time to the end of the last period and came into being + at the beginning of this, are to us the heralds. And mark how consistent + the sequel of the tale is; after the return of age to youth, follows the + return of the dead, who are lying in the earth, to life; simultaneously + with the reversal of the world the wheel of their generation has been + turned back, and they are put together and rise and live in the opposite + order, unless God has carried any of them away to some other lot. + According to this tradition they of necessity sprang from the earth and + have the name of earth-born, and so the above legend clings to them. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly that is quite consistent with what has preceded; + but tell me, was the life which you said existed in the reign of Cronos in + that cycle of the world, or in this? For the change in the course of the + stars and the sun must have occurred in both. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I see that you enter into my meaning;—no, that blessed and + spontaneous life does not belong to the present cycle of the world, but to + the previous one, in which God superintended the whole revolution of the + universe; and the several parts the universe were distributed under the + rule of certain inferior deities, as is the way in some places still. + There were demigods, who were the shepherds of the various species and + herds of animals, and each one was in all respects sufficient for those of + whom he was the shepherd; neither was there any violence, or devouring of + one another, or war or quarrel among them; and I might tell of ten + thousand other blessings, which belonged to that dispensation. The reason + why the life of man was, as tradition says, spontaneous, is as follows: In + those days God himself was their shepherd, and ruled over them, just as + man, who is by comparison a divine being, still rules over the lower + animals. Under him there were no forms of government or separate + possession of women and children; for all men rose again from the earth, + having no memory of the past. And although they had nothing of this sort, + the earth gave them fruits in abundance, which grew on trees and shrubs + unbidden, and were not planted by the hand of man. And they dwelt naked, + and mostly in the open air, for the temperature of their seasons was mild; + and they had no beds, but lay on soft couches of grass, which grew + plentifully out of the earth. Such was the life of man in the days of + Cronos, Socrates; the character of our present life, which is said to be + under Zeus, you know from your own experience. Can you, and will you, + determine which of them you deem the happier? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Impossible. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then shall I determine for you as well as I can? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: By all means. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Suppose that the nurslings of Cronos, having this boundless + leisure, and the power of holding intercourse, not only with men, but with + the brute creation, had used all these advantages with a view to + philosophy, conversing with the brutes as well as with one another, and + learning of every nature which was gifted with any special power, and was + able to contribute some special experience to the store of wisdom, there + would be no difficulty in deciding that they would be a thousand times + happier than the men of our own day. Or, again, if they had merely eaten + and drunk until they were full, and told stories to one another and to the + animals—such stories as are now attributed to them—in this + case also, as I should imagine, the answer would be easy. But until some + satisfactory witness can be found of the love of that age for knowledge + and discussion, we had better let the matter drop, and give the reason why + we have unearthed this tale, and then we shall be able to get on. In the + fulness of time, when the change was to take place, and the earth-born + race had all perished, and every soul had completed its proper cycle of + births and been sown in the earth her appointed number of times, the pilot + of the universe let the helm go, and retired to his place of view; and + then Fate and innate desire reversed the motion of the world. Then also + all the inferior deities who share the rule of the supreme power, being + informed of what was happening, let go the parts of the world which were + under their control. And the world turning round with a sudden shock, + being impelled in an opposite direction from beginning to end, was shaken + by a mighty earthquake, which wrought a new destruction of all manner of + animals. Afterwards, when sufficient time had elapsed, the tumult and + confusion and earthquake ceased, and the universal creature, once more at + peace, attained to a calm, and settled down into his own orderly and + accustomed course, having the charge and rule of himself and of all the + creatures which are contained in him, and executing, as far as he + remembered them, the instructions of his Father and Creator, more + precisely at first, but afterwords with less exactness. The reason of the + falling off was the admixture of matter in him; this was inherent in the + primal nature, which was full of disorder, until attaining to the present + order. From God, the constructor, the world received all that is good in + him, but from a previous state came elements of evil and unrighteousness, + which, thence derived, first of all passed into the world, and were then + transmitted to the animals. While the world was aided by the pilot in + nurturing the animals, the evil was small, and great the good which he + produced, but after the separation, when the world was let go, at first + all proceeded well enough; but, as time went on, there was more and more + forgetting, and the old discord again held sway and burst forth in full + glory; and at last small was the good, and great was the admixture of + evil, and there was a danger of universal ruin to the world, and to the + things contained in him. Wherefore God, the orderer of all, in his tender + care, seeing that the world was in great straits, and fearing that all + might be dissolved in the storm and disappear in infinite chaos, again + seated himself at the helm; and bringing back the elements which had + fallen into dissolution and disorder to the motion which had prevailed + under his dispensation, he set them in order and restored them, and made + the world imperishable and immortal. And this is the whole tale, of which + the first part will suffice to illustrate the nature of the king. For when + the world turned towards the present cycle of generation, the age of man + again stood still, and a change opposite to the previous one was the + result. The small creatures which had almost disappeared grew in and + stature, and the newly-born children of the earth became grey and died and + sank into the earth again. All things changed, imitating and following the + condition of the universe, and of necessity agreeing with that in their + mode of conception and generation and nurture; for no animal was any + longer allowed to come into being in the earth through the agency of other + creative beings, but as the world was ordained to be the lord of his own + progress, in like manner the parts were ordained to grow and generate and + give nourishment, as far as they could, of themselves, impelled by a + similar movement. And so we have arrived at the real end of this + discourse; for although there might be much to tell of the lower animals, + and of the condition out of which they changed and of the causes of the + change, about men there is not much, and that little is more to the + purpose. Deprived of the care of God, who had possessed and tended them, + they were left helpless and defenceless, and were torn in pieces by the + beasts, who were naturally fierce and had now grown wild. And in the first + ages they were still without skill or resource; the food which once grew + spontaneously had failed, and as yet they knew not how to procure it, + because they had never felt the pressure of necessity. For all these + reasons they were in a great strait; wherefore also the gifts spoken of in + the old tradition were imparted to man by the gods, together with so much + teaching and education as was indispensable; fire was given to them by + Prometheus, the arts by Hephaestus and his fellow-worker, Athene, seeds + and plants by others. From these is derived all that has helped to frame + human life; since the care of the Gods, as I was saying, had now failed + men, and they had to order their course of life for themselves, and were + their own masters, just like the universal creature whom they imitate and + follow, ever changing, as he changes, and ever living and growing, at one + time in one manner, and at another time in another. Enough of the story, + which may be of use in showing us how greatly we erred in the delineation + of the king and the statesman in our previous discourse. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What was this great error of which you speak? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: There were two; the first a lesser one, the other was an error + on a much larger and grander scale. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What do you mean? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I mean to say that when we were asked about a king and statesman + of the present cycle and generation, we told of a shepherd of a human + flock who belonged to the other cycle, and of one who was a god when he + ought to have been a man; and this a great error. Again, we declared him + to be the ruler of the entire State, without explaining how: this was not + the whole truth, nor very intelligible; but still it was true, and + therefore the second error was not so great as the first. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very good. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Before we can expect to have a perfect description of the + statesman we must define the nature of his office. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And the myth was introduced in order to show, not only that all + others are rivals of the true shepherd who is the object of our search, + but in order that we might have a clearer view of him who is alone worthy + to receive this appellation, because he alone of shepherds and herdsmen, + according to the image which we have employed, has the care of human + beings. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And I cannot help thinking, Socrates, that the form of the + divine shepherd is even higher than that of a king; whereas the statesmen + who are now on earth seem to be much more like their subjects in + character, and much more nearly to partake of their breeding and + education. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Still they must be investigated all the same, to see whether, + like the divine shepherd, they are above their subjects or on a level with + them. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Of course. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: To resume:—Do you remember that we spoke of a + command-for-self exercised over animals, not singly but collectively, + which we called the art of rearing a herd? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes, I remember. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: There, somewhere, lay our error; for we never included or + mentioned the Statesman; and we did not observe that he had no place in + our nomenclature. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How was that? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: All other herdsmen 'rear' their herds, but this is not a + suitable term to apply to the Statesman; we should use a name which is + common to them all. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True, if there be such a name. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Why, is not 'care' of herds applicable to all? For this implies + no feeding, or any special duty; if we say either 'tending' the herds, or + 'managing' the herds, or 'having the care' of them, the same word will + include all, and then we may wrap up the Statesman with the rest, as the + argument seems to require. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Quite right; but how shall we take the next step in the + division? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: As before we divided the art of 'rearing' herds accordingly as + they were land or water herds, winged and wingless, mixing or not mixing + the breed, horned and hornless, so we may divide by these same differences + the 'tending' of herds, comprehending in our definition the kingship of + to-day and the rule of Cronos. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: That is clear; but I still ask, what is to follow. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: If the word had been 'managing' herds, instead of feeding or + rearing them, no one would have argued that there was no care of men in + the case of the politician, although it was justly contended, that there + was no human art of feeding them which was worthy of the name, or at + least, if there were, many a man had a prior and greater right to share in + such an art than any king. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But no other art or science will have a prior or better right + than the royal science to care for human society and to rule over men in + general. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Quite true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: In the next place, Socrates, we must surely notice that a great + error was committed at the end of our analysis. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What was it? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Why, supposing we were ever so sure that there is such an art as + the art of rearing or feeding bipeds, there was no reason why we should + call this the royal or political art, as though there were no more to be + said. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly not. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Our first duty, as we were saying, was to remodel the name, so + as to have the notion of care rather than of feeding, and then to divide, + for there may be still considerable divisions. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How can they be made? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: First, by separating the divine shepherd from the human guardian + or manager. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And the art of management which is assigned to man would again + have to be subdivided. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: On what principle? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: On the principle of voluntary and compulsory. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Why? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Because, if I am not mistaken, there has been an error here; for + our simplicity led us to rank king and tyrant together, whereas they are + utterly distinct, like their modes of government. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then, now, as I said, let us make the correction and divide + human care into two parts, on the principle of voluntary and compulsory. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And if we call the management of violent rulers tyranny, and the + voluntary management of herds of voluntary bipeds politics, may we not + further assert that he who has this latter art of management is the true + king and statesman? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: I think, Stranger, that we have now completed the account + of the Statesman. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Would that we had, Socrates, but I have to satisfy myself as + well as you; and in my judgment the figure of the king is not yet + perfected; like statuaries who, in their too great haste, having overdone + the several parts of their work, lose time in cutting them down, so too + we, partly out of haste, partly out of a magnanimous desire to expose our + former error, and also because we imagined that a king required grand + illustrations, have taken up a marvellous lump of fable, and have been + obliged to use more than was necessary. This made us discourse at large, + and, nevertheless, the story never came to an end. And our discussion + might be compared to a picture of some living being which had been fairly + drawn in outline, but had not yet attained the life and clearness which is + given by the blending of colours. Now to intelligent persons a living + being had better be delineated by language and discourse than by any + painting or work of art: to the duller sort by works of art. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true; but what is the imperfection which still + remains? I wish that you would tell me. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The higher ideas, my dear friend, can hardly be set forth except + through the medium of examples; every man seems to know all things in a + dreamy sort of way, and then again to wake up and to know nothing. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What do you mean? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I fear that I have been unfortunate in raising a question about + our experience of knowledge. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Why so? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Why, because my 'example' requires the assistance of another + example. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Proceed; you need not fear that I shall tire. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I will proceed, finding, as I do, such a ready listener in you: + when children are beginning to know their letters— + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What are you going to say? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: That they distinguish the several letters well enough in very + short and easy syllables, and are able to tell them correctly. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Whereas in other syllables they do not recognize them, and think + and speak falsely of them. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Will not the best and easiest way of bringing them to a + knowledge of what they do not as yet know be— + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Be what? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: To refer them first of all to cases in which they judge + correctly about the letters in question, and then to compare these with + the cases in which they do not as yet know, and to show them that the + letters are the same, and have the same character in both combinations, + until all cases in which they are right have been placed side by side with + all cases in which they are wrong. In this way they have examples, and are + made to learn that each letter in every combination is always the same and + not another, and is always called by the same name. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Are not examples formed in this manner? We take a thing and + compare it with another distinct instance of the same thing, of which we + have a right conception, and out of the comparison there arises one true + notion, which includes both of them. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Exactly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Can we wonder, then, that the soul has the same uncertainty + about the alphabet of things, and sometimes and in some cases is firmly + fixed by the truth in each particular, and then, again, in other cases is + altogether at sea; having somehow or other a correct notion of + combinations; but when the elements are transferred into the long and + difficult language (syllables) of facts, is again ignorant of them? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: There is nothing wonderful in that. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Could any one, my friend, who began with false opinion ever + expect to arrive even at a small portion of truth and to attain wisdom? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Hardly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then you and I will not be far wrong in trying to see the nature + of example in general in a small and particular instance; afterwards from + lesser things we intend to pass to the royal class, which is the highest + form of the same nature, and endeavour to discover by rules of art what + the management of cities is; and then the dream will become a reality to + us. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then, once more, let us resume the previous argument, and as + there were innumerable rivals of the royal race who claim to have the care + of states, let us part them all off, and leave him alone; and, as I was + saying, a model or example of this process has first to be framed. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Exactly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: What model is there which is small, and yet has any analogy with + the political occupation? Suppose, Socrates, that if we have no other + example at hand, we choose weaving, or, more precisely, weaving of wool—this + will be quite enough, without taking the whole of weaving, to illustrate + our meaning? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Why should we not apply to weaving the same processes of + division and subdivision which we have already applied to other classes; + going once more as rapidly as we can through all the steps until we come + to that which is needed for our purpose? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How do you mean? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I shall reply by actually performing the process. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very good. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: All things which we make or acquire are either creative or + preventive; of the preventive class are antidotes, divine and human, and + also defences; and defences are either military weapons or protections; + and protections are veils, and also shields against heat and cold, and + shields against heat and cold are shelters and coverings; and coverings + are blankets and garments; and garments are some of them in one piece, and + others of them are made in several parts; and of these latter some are + stitched, others are fastened and not stitched; and of the not stitched, + some are made of the sinews of plants, and some of hair; and of these, + again, some are cemented with water and earth, and others are fastened + together by themselves. And these last defences and coverings which are + fastened together by themselves are called clothes, and the art which + superintends them we may call, from the nature of the operation, the art + of clothing, just as before the art of the Statesman was derived from the + State; and may we not say that the art of weaving, at least that largest + portion of it which was concerned with the making of clothes, differs only + in name from this art of clothing, in the same way that, in the previous + case, the royal science differed from the political? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Most true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: In the next place, let us make the reflection, that the art of + weaving clothes, which an incompetent person might fancy to have been + sufficiently described, has been separated off from several others which + are of the same family, but not from the co-operative arts. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: And which are the kindred arts? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I see that I have not taken you with me. So I think that we had + better go backwards, starting from the end. We just now parted off from + the weaving of clothes, the making of blankets, which differ from each + other in that one is put under and the other is put around: and these are + what I termed kindred arts. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: I understand. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And we have subtracted the manufacture of all articles made of + flax and cords, and all that we just now metaphorically termed the sinews + of plants, and we have also separated off the process of felting and the + putting together of materials by stitching and sewing, of which the most + important part is the cobbler's art. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Precisely. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then we separated off the currier's art, which prepared + coverings in entire pieces, and the art of sheltering, and subtracted the + various arts of making water-tight which are employed in building, and in + general in carpentering, and in other crafts, and all such arts as furnish + impediments to thieving and acts of violence, and are concerned with + making the lids of boxes and the fixing of doors, being divisions of the + art of joining; and we also cut off the manufacture of arms, which is a + section of the great and manifold art of making defences; and we + originally began by parting off the whole of the magic art which is + concerned with antidotes, and have left, as would appear, the very art of + which we were in search, the art of protection against winter cold, which + fabricates woollen defences, and has the name of weaving. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Yes, my boy, but that is not all; for the first process to which + the material is subjected is the opposite of weaving. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How so? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Weaving is a sort of uniting? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But the first process is a separation of the clotted and matted + fibres? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What do you mean? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I mean the work of the carder's art; for we cannot say that + carding is weaving, or that the carder is a weaver. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly not. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Again, if a person were to say that the art of making the warp + and the woof was the art of weaving, he would say what was paradoxical and + false. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: To be sure. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Shall we say that the whole art of the fuller or of the mender + has nothing to do with the care and treatment of clothes, or are we to + regard all these as arts of weaving? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly not. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And yet surely all these arts will maintain that they are + concerned with the treatment and production of clothes; they will dispute + the exclusive prerogative of weaving, and though assigning a larger sphere + to that, will still reserve a considerable field for themselves. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Besides these, there are the arts which make tools and + instruments of weaving, and which will claim at least to be co-operative + causes in every work of the weaver. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Most true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Well, then, suppose that we define weaving, or rather that part + of it which has been selected by us, to be the greatest and noblest of + arts which are concerned with woollen garments—shall we be right? Is + not the definition, although true, wanting in clearness and completeness; + for do not all those other arts require to be first cleared away? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then the next thing will be to separate them, in order that the + argument may proceed in a regular manner? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: By all means. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Let us consider, in the first place, that there are two kinds of + arts entering into everything which we do. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What are they? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The one kind is the conditional or co-operative, the other the + principal cause. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What do you mean? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The arts which do not manufacture the actual thing, but which + furnish the necessary tools for the manufacture, without which the several + arts could not fulfil their appointed work, are co-operative; but those + which make the things themselves are causal. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: A very reasonable distinction. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Thus the arts which make spindles, combs, and other instruments + of the production of clothes, may be called co-operative, and those which + treat and fabricate the things themselves, causal. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The arts of washing and mending, and the other preparatory arts + which belong to the causal class, and form a division of the great art of + adornment, may be all comprehended under what we call the fuller's art. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very good. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Carding and spinning threads and all the parts of the process + which are concerned with the actual manufacture of a woollen garment form + a single art, which is one of those universally acknowledged,—the + art of working in wool. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: To be sure. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Of working in wool, again, there are two divisions, and both + these are parts of two arts at once. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How is that? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Carding and one half of the use of the comb, and the other + processes of wool-working which separate the composite, may be classed + together as belonging both to the art of wool-working, and also to one of + the two great arts which are of universal application—the art of + composition and the art of division. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: To the latter belong carding and the other processes of which I + was just now speaking; the art of discernment or division in wool and + yarn, which is effected in one manner with the comb and in another with + the hands, is variously described under all the names which I just now + mentioned. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Again, let us take some process of wool-working which is also a + portion of the art of composition, and, dismissing the elements of + division which we found there, make two halves, one on the principle of + composition, and the other on the principle of division. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Let that be done. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And once more, Socrates, we must divide the part which belongs + at once both to wool-working and composition, if we are ever to discover + satisfactorily the aforesaid art of weaving. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: We must. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Yes, certainly, and let us call one part of the art the art of + twisting threads, the other the art of combining them. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Do I understand you, in speaking of twisting, to be + referring to manufacture of the warp? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Yes, and of the woof too; how, if not by twisting, is the woof + made? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: There is no other way. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then suppose that you define the warp and the woof, for I think + that the definition will be of use to you. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How shall I define them? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: As thus: A piece of carded wool which is drawn out lengthwise + and breadthwise is said to be pulled out. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And the wool thus prepared, when twisted by the spindle, and + made into a firm thread, is called the warp, and the art which regulates + these operations the art of spinning the warp. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And the threads which are more loosely spun, having a softness + proportioned to the intertexture of the warp and to the degree of force + used in dressing the cloth,—the threads which are thus spun are + called the woof, and the art which is set over them may be called the art + of spinning the woof. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And, now, there can be no mistake about the nature of the part + of weaving which we have undertaken to define. For when that part of the + art of composition which is employed in the working of wool forms a web by + the regular intertexture of warp and woof, the entire woven substance is + called by us a woollen garment, and the art which presides over this is + the art of weaving. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But why did we not say at once that weaving is the art of + entwining warp and woof, instead of making a long and useless circuit? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: I thought, Stranger, that there was nothing useless in + what was said. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Very likely, but you may not always think so, my sweet friend; + and in case any feeling of dissatisfaction should hereafter arise in your + mind, as it very well may, let me lay down a principle which will apply to + arguments in general. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Proceed. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Let us begin by considering the whole nature of excess and + defect, and then we shall have a rational ground on which we may praise or + blame too much length or too much shortness in discussions of this kind. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Let us do so. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The points on which I think that we ought to dwell are the + following:— + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Length and shortness, excess and defect; with all of these the + art of measurement is conversant. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And the art of measurement has to be divided into two parts, + with a view to our present purpose. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Where would you make the division? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: As thus: I would make two parts, one having regard to the + relativity of greatness and smallness to each other; and there is another, + without which the existence of production would be impossible. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What do you mean? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Do you not think that it is only natural for the greater to be + called greater with reference to the less alone, and the less less with + reference to the greater alone? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Well, but is there not also something exceeding and exceeded by + the principle of the mean, both in speech and action, and is not this a + reality, and the chief mark of difference between good and bad men? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Plainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then we must suppose that the great and small exist and are + discerned in both these ways, and not, as we were saying before, only + relatively to one another, but there must also be another comparison of + them with the mean or ideal standard; would you like to hear the reason + why? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: If we assume the greater to exist only in relation to the less, + there will never be any comparison of either with the mean. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And would not this doctrine be the ruin of all the arts and + their creations; would not the art of the Statesman and the aforesaid art + of weaving disappear? For all these arts are on the watch against excess + and defect, not as unrealities, but as real evils, which occasion a + difficulty in action; and the excellence or beauty of every work of art is + due to this observance of measure. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But if the science of the Statesman disappears, the search for + the royal science will be impossible. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Well, then, as in the case of the Sophist we extorted the + inference that not-being had an existence, because here was the point at + which the argument eluded our grasp, so in this we must endeavour to show + that the greater and less are not only to be measured with one another, + but also have to do with the production of the mean; for if this is not + admitted, neither a statesman nor any other man of action can be an + undisputed master of his science. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes, we must certainly do again what we did then. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But this, Socrates, is a greater work than the other, of which + we only too well remember the length. I think, however, that we may fairly + assume something of this sort— + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: That we shall some day require this notion of a mean with a view + to the demonstration of absolute truth; meanwhile, the argument that the + very existence of the arts must be held to depend on the possibility of + measuring more or less, not only with one another, but also with a view to + the attainment of the mean, seems to afford a grand support and + satisfactory proof of the doctrine which we are maintaining; for if there + are arts, there is a standard of measure, and if there is a standard of + measure, there are arts; but if either is wanting, there is neither. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True; and what is the next step? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The next step clearly is to divide the art of measurement into + two parts, as we have said already, and to place in the one part all the + arts which measure number, length, depth, breadth, swiftness with their + opposites; and to have another part in which they are measured with the + mean, and the fit, and the opportune, and the due, and with all those + words, in short, which denote a mean or standard removed from the + extremes. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Here are two vast divisions, embracing two very different + spheres. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: There are many accomplished men, Socrates, who say, believing + themselves to speak wisely, that the art of measurement is universal, and + has to do with all things. And this means what we are now saying; for all + things which come within the province of art do certainly in some sense + partake of measure. But these persons, because they are not accustomed to + distinguish classes according to real forms, jumble together two widely + different things, relation to one another, and to a standard, under the + idea that they are the same, and also fall into the converse error of + dividing other things not according to their real parts. Whereas the right + way is, if a man has first seen the unity of things, to go on with the + enquiry and not desist until he has found all the differences contained in + it which form distinct classes; nor again should he be able to rest + contented with the manifold diversities which are seen in a multitude of + things until he has comprehended all of them that have any affinity within + the bounds of one similarity and embraced them within the reality of a + single kind. But we have said enough on this head, and also of excess and + defect; we have only to bear in mind that two divisions of the art of + measurement have been discovered which are concerned with them, and not + forget what they are. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: We will not forget. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And now that this discussion is completed, let us go on to + consider another question, which concerns not this argument only but the + conduct of such arguments in general. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What is this new question? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Take the case of a child who is engaged in learning his letters: + when he is asked what letters make up a word, should we say that the + question is intended to improve his grammatical knowledge of that + particular word, or of all words? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Clearly, in order that he may have a better knowledge of + all words. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And is our enquiry about the Statesman intended only to improve + our knowledge of politics, or our power of reasoning generally? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Clearly, as in the former example, the purpose is general. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Still less would any rational man seek to analyse the notion of + weaving for its own sake. But people seem to forget that some things have + sensible images, which are readily known, and can be easily pointed out + when any one desires to answer an enquirer without any trouble or + argument; whereas the greatest and highest truths have no outward image of + themselves visible to man, which he who wishes to satisfy the soul of the + enquirer can adapt to the eye of sense (compare Phaedr.), and therefore we + ought to train ourselves to give and accept a rational account of them; + for immaterial things, which are the noblest and greatest, are shown only + in thought and idea, and in no other way, and all that we are now saying + is said for the sake of them. Moreover, there is always less difficulty in + fixing the mind on small matters than on great. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very good. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Let us call to mind the bearing of all this. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What is it? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I wanted to get rid of any impression of tediousness which we + may have experienced in the discussion about weaving, and the reversal of + the universe, and in the discussion concerning the Sophist and the being + of not-being. I know that they were felt to be too long, and I reproached + myself with this, fearing that they might be not only tedious but + irrelevant; and all that I have now said is only designed to prevent the + recurrence of any such disagreeables for the future. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very good. Will you proceed? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then I would like to observe that you and I, remembering what + has been said, should praise or blame the length or shortness of + discussions, not by comparing them with one another, but with what is + fitting, having regard to the part of measurement, which, as we said, was + to be borne in mind. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And yet, not everything is to be judged even with a view to what + is fitting; for we should only want such a length as is suited to give + pleasure, if at all, as a secondary matter; and reason tells us, that we + should be contented to make the ease or rapidity of an enquiry, not our + first, but our second object; the first and highest of all being to assert + the great method of division according to species—whether the + discourse be shorter or longer is not to the point. No offence should be + taken at length, but the longer and shorter are to be employed + indifferently, according as either of them is better calculated to sharpen + the wits of the auditors. Reason would also say to him who censures the + length of discourses on such occasions and cannot away with their + circumlocution, that he should not be in such a hurry to have done with + them, when he can only complain that they are tedious, but he should prove + that if they had been shorter they would have made those who took part in + them better dialecticians, and more capable of expressing the truth of + things; about any other praise and blame, he need not trouble himself—he + should pretend not to hear them. But we have had enough of this, as you + will probably agree with me in thinking. Let us return to our Statesman, + and apply to his case the aforesaid example of weaving. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very good;—let us do as you say. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The art of the king has been separated from the similar arts of + shepherds, and, indeed, from all those which have to do with herds at all. + There still remain, however, of the causal and co-operative arts those + which are immediately concerned with States, and which must first be + distinguished from one another. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very good. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: You know that these arts cannot easily be divided into two + halves; the reason will be very evident as we proceed. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Then we had better do so. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: We must carve them like a victim into members or limbs, since we + cannot bisect them. (Compare Phaedr.) For we certainly should divide + everything into as few parts as possible. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What is to be done in this case? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: What we did in the example of weaving—all those arts which + furnish the tools were regarded by us as co-operative. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: So now, and with still more reason, all arts which make any + implement in a State, whether great or small, may be regarded by us as + co-operative, for without them neither State nor Statesmanship would be + possible; and yet we are not inclined to say that any of them is a product + of the kingly art. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: No, indeed. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The task of separating this class from others is not an easy + one; for there is plausibility in saying that anything in the world is the + instrument of doing something. But there is another class of possessions + in a city, of which I have a word to say. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What class do you mean? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: A class which may be described as not having this power; that is + to say, not like an instrument, framed for production, but designed for + the preservation of that which is produced. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: To what do you refer? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: To the class of vessels, as they are comprehensively termed, + which are constructed for the preservation of things moist and dry, of + things prepared in the fire or out of the fire; this is a very large + class, and has, if I am not mistaken, literally nothing to do with the + royal art of which we are in search. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly not. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: There is also a third class of possessions to be noted, + different from these and very extensive, moving or resting on land or + water, honourable and also dishonourable. The whole of this class has one + name, because it is intended to be sat upon, being always a seat for + something. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What is it? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: A vehicle, which is certainly not the work of the Statesman, but + of the carpenter, potter, and coppersmith. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: I understand. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And is there not a fourth class which is again different, and in + which most of the things formerly mentioned are contained,—every + kind of dress, most sorts of arms, walls and enclosures, whether of earth + or stone, and ten thousand other things? all of which being made for the + sake of defence, may be truly called defences, and are for the most part + to be regarded as the work of the builder or of the weaver, rather than of + the Statesman. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Shall we add a fifth class, of ornamentation and drawing, and of + the imitations produced by drawing and music, which are designed for + amusement only, and may be fairly comprehended under one name? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What is it? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Plaything is the name. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: That one name may be fitly predicated of all of them, for none + of these things have a serious purpose—amusement is their sole aim. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: That again I understand. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then there is a class which provides materials for all these, + out of which and in which the arts already mentioned fabricate their + works;—this manifold class, I say, which is the creation and + offspring of many other arts, may I not rank sixth? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What do you mean? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I am referring to gold, silver, and other metals, and all that + wood-cutting and shearing of every sort provides for the art of carpentry + and plaiting; and there is the process of barking and stripping the + cuticle of plants, and the currier's art, which strips off the skins of + animals, and other similar arts which manufacture corks and papyri and + cords, and provide for the manufacture of composite species out of simple + kinds—the whole class may be termed the primitive and simple + possession of man, and with this the kingly science has no concern at all. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The provision of food and of all other things which mingle their + particles with the particles of the human body, and minister to the body, + will form a seventh class, which may be called by the general term of + nourishment, unless you have any better name to offer. This, however, + appertains rather to the husbandman, huntsman, trainer, doctor, cook, and + is not to be assigned to the Statesman's art. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly not. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: These seven classes include nearly every description of + property, with the exception of tame animals. Consider;—there was + the original material, which ought to have been placed first; next come + instruments, vessels, vehicles, defences, playthings, nourishment; small + things, which may be included under one of these—as for example, + coins, seals and stamps, are omitted, for they have not in them the + character of any larger kind which includes them; but some of them may, + with a little forcing, be placed among ornaments, and others may be made + to harmonize with the class of implements. The art of herding, which has + been already divided into parts, will include all property in tame + animals, except slaves. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The class of slaves and ministers only remains, and I suspect + that in this the real aspirants for the throne, who are the rivals of the + king in the formation of the political web, will be discovered; just as + spinners, carders, and the rest of them, were the rivals of the weaver. + All the others, who were termed co-operators, have been got rid of among + the occupations already mentioned, and separated from the royal and + political science. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: I agree. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Let us go a little nearer, in order that we may be more certain + of the complexion of this remaining class. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Let us do so. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: We shall find from our present point of view that the greatest + servants are in a case and condition which is the reverse of what we + anticipated. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Who are they? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Those who have been purchased, and have so become possessions; + these are unmistakably slaves, and certainly do not claim royal science. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly not. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Again, freemen who of their own accord become the servants of + the other classes in a State, and who exchange and equalise the products + of husbandry and the other arts, some sitting in the market-place, others + going from city to city by land or sea, and giving money in exchange for + money or for other productions—the money-changer, the merchant, the + ship-owner, the retailer, will not put in any claim to statecraft or + politics? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: No; unless, indeed, to the politics of commerce. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But surely men whom we see acting as hirelings and serfs, and + too happy to turn their hand to anything, will not profess to share in + royal science? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly not. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But what would you say of some other serviceable officials? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Who are they, and what services do they perform? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: There are heralds, and scribes perfected by practice, and divers + others who have great skill in various sorts of business connected with + the government of states—what shall we call them? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: They are the officials, and servants of the rulers, as you + just now called them, but not themselves rulers. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: There may be something strange in any servant pretending to be a + ruler, and yet I do not think that I could have been dreaming when I + imagined that the principal claimants to political science would be found + somewhere in this neighbourhood. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Well, let us draw nearer, and try the claims of some who have + not yet been tested: in the first place, there are diviners, who have a + portion of servile or ministerial science, and are thought to be the + interpreters of the gods to men. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: There is also the priestly class, who, as the law declares, know + how to give the gods gifts from men in the form of sacrifices which are + acceptable to them, and to ask on our behalf blessings in return from + them. Now both these are branches of the servile or ministerial art. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes, clearly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And here I think that we seem to be getting on the right track; + for the priest and the diviner are swollen with pride and prerogative, and + they create an awful impression of themselves by the magnitude of their + enterprises; in Egypt, the king himself is not allowed to reign, unless he + have priestly powers, and if he should be of another class and has thrust + himself in, he must get enrolled in the priesthood. In many parts of + Hellas, the duty of offering the most solemn propitiatory sacrifices is + assigned to the highest magistracies, and here, at Athens, the most solemn + and national of the ancient sacrifices are supposed to be celebrated by + him who has been chosen by lot to be the King Archon. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Precisely. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But who are these other kings and priests elected by lot who now + come into view followed by their retainers and a vast throng, as the + former class disappears and the scene changes? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Whom can you mean? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: They are a strange crew. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Why strange? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: A minute ago I thought that they were animals of every tribe; + for many of them are like lions and centaurs, and many more like satyrs + and such weak and shifty creatures;—Protean shapes quickly changing + into one another's forms and natures; and now, Socrates, I begin to see + who they are. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Who are they? You seem to be gazing on some strange + vision. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Yes; every one looks strange when you do not know him; and just + now I myself fell into this mistake—at first sight, coming suddenly + upon him, I did not recognize the politician and his troop. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Who is he? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The chief of Sophists and most accomplished of wizards, who must + at any cost be separated from the true king or Statesman, if we are ever + to see daylight in the present enquiry. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: That is a hope not lightly to be renounced. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Never, if I can help it; and, first, let me ask you a question. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Is not monarchy a recognized form of government? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And, after monarchy, next in order comes the government of the + few? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Of course. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Is not the third form of government the rule of the multitude, + which is called by the name of democracy? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And do not these three expand in a manner into five, producing + out of themselves two other names? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What are they? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What are they? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: There is a criterion of voluntary and involuntary, poverty and + riches, law and the absence of law, which men now-a-days apply to them; + the two first they subdivide accordingly, and ascribe to monarchy two + forms and two corresponding names, royalty and tyranny. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And the government of the few they distinguish by the names of + aristocracy and oligarchy. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Democracy alone, whether rigidly observing the laws or not, and + whether the multitude rule over the men of property with their consent or + against their consent, always in ordinary language has the same name. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But do you suppose that any form of government which is defined + by these characteristics of the one, the few, or the many, of poverty or + wealth, of voluntary or compulsory submission, of written law or the + absence of law, can be a right one? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Why not? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Reflect; and follow me. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: In what direction? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Shall we abide by what we said at first, or shall we retract our + words? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: To what do you refer? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: If I am not mistaken, we said that royal power was a science? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And a science of a peculiar kind, which was selected out of the + rest as having a character which is at once judicial and authoritative? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And there was one kind of authority over lifeless things and + another other living animals; and so we proceeded in the division step by + step up to this point, not losing the idea of science, but unable as yet + to determine the nature of the particular science? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Hence we are led to observe that the distinguishing principle of + the State cannot be the few or many, the voluntary or involuntary, poverty + or riches; but some notion of science must enter into it, if we are to be + consistent with what has preceded. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: And we must be consistent. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Well, then, in which of these various forms of States may the + science of government, which is among the greatest of all sciences and + most difficult to acquire, be supposed to reside? That we must discover, + and then we shall see who are the false politicians who pretend to be + politicians but are not, although they persuade many, and shall separate + them from the wise king. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: That, as the argument has already intimated, will be our + duty. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Do you think that the multitude in a State can attain political + science? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Impossible. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But, perhaps, in a city of a thousand men, there would be a + hundred, or say fifty, who could? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: In that case political science would certainly be the + easiest of all sciences; there could not be found in a city of that number + as many really first-rate draught-players, if judged by the standard of + the rest of Hellas, and there would certainly not be as many kings. For + kings we may truly call those who possess royal science, whether they rule + or not, as was shown in the previous argument. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Thank you for reminding me; and the consequence is that any true + form of government can only be supposed to be the government of one, two, + or, at any rate, of a few. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And these, whether they rule with the will, or against the will, + of their subjects, with written laws or without written laws, and whether + they are poor or rich, and whatever be the nature of their rule, must be + supposed, according to our present view, to rule on some scientific + principle; just as the physician, whether he cures us against our will or + with our will, and whatever be his mode of treatment,—incision, + burning, or the infliction of some other pain,—whether he practises + out of a book or not out of a book, and whether he be rich or poor, + whether he purges or reduces in some other way, or even fattens his + patients, is a physician all the same, so long as he exercises authority + over them according to rules of art, if he only does them good and heals + and saves them. And this we lay down to be the only proper test of the art + of medicine, or of any other art of command. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Quite true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then that can be the only true form of government in which the + governors are really found to possess science, and are not mere + pretenders, whether they rule according to law or without law, over + willing or unwilling subjects, and are rich or poor themselves—none + of these things can with any propriety be included in the notion of the + ruler. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And whether with a view to the public good they purge the State + by killing some, or exiling some; whether they reduce the size of the body + corporate by sending out from the hive swarms of citizens, or, by + introducing persons from without, increase it; while they act according to + the rules of wisdom and justice, and use their power with a view to the + general security and improvement, the city over which they rule, and which + has these characteristics, may be described as the only true State. All + other governments are not genuine or real; but only imitations of this, + and some of them are better and some of them are worse; the better are + said to be well governed, but they are mere imitations like the others. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: I agree, Stranger, in the greater part of what you say; + but as to their ruling without laws—the expression has a harsh + sound. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: You have been too quick for me, Socrates; I was just going to + ask you whether you objected to any of my statements. And now I see that + we shall have to consider this notion of there being good government + without laws. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: There can be no doubt that legislation is in a manner the + business of a king, and yet the best thing of all is not that the law + should rule, but that a man should rule supposing him to have wisdom and + royal power. Do you see why this is? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Why? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Because the law does not perfectly comprehend what is noblest + and most just for all and therefore cannot enforce what is best. The + differences of men and actions, and the endless irregular movements of + human things, do not admit of any universal and simple rule. And no art + whatsoever can lay down a rule which will last for all time. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Of course not. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But the law is always striving to make one;—like an + obstinate and ignorant tyrant, who will not allow anything to be done + contrary to his appointment, or any question to be asked—not even in + sudden changes of circumstances, when something happens to be better than + what he commanded for some one. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly; the law treats us all precisely in the manner + which you describe. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: A perfectly simple principle can never be applied to a state of + things which is the reverse of simple. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then if the law is not the perfection of right, why are we + compelled to make laws at all? The reason of this has next to be + investigated. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Let me ask, whether you have not meetings for gymnastic contests + in your city, such as there are in other cities, at which men compete in + running, wrestling, and the like? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes; they are very common among us. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And what are the rules which are enforced on their pupils by + professional trainers or by others having similar authority? Can you + remember? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: To what do you refer? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The training-masters do not issue minute rules for individuals, + or give every individual what is exactly suited to his constitution; they + think that they ought to go more roughly to work, and to prescribe + generally the regimen which will benefit the majority. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And therefore they assign equal amounts of exercise to them all; + they send them forth together, and let them rest together from their + running, wrestling, or whatever the form of bodily exercise may be. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And now observe that the legislator who has to preside over the + herd, and to enforce justice in their dealings with one another, will not + be able, in enacting for the general good, to provide exactly what is + suitable for each particular case. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: He cannot be expected to do so. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: He will lay down laws in a general form for the majority, + roughly meeting the cases of individuals; and some of them he will deliver + in writing, and others will be unwritten; and these last will be + traditional customs of the country. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: He will be right. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Yes, quite right; for how can he sit at every man's side all + through his life, prescribing for him the exact particulars of his duty? + Who, Socrates, would be equal to such a task? No one who really had the + royal science, if he had been able to do this, would have imposed upon + himself the restriction of a written law. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: So I should infer from what has now been said. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Or rather, my good friend, from what is going to be said. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: And what is that? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Let us put to ourselves the case of a physician, or trainer, who + is about to go into a far country, and is expecting to be a long time away + from his patients—thinking that his instructions will not be + remembered unless they are written down, he will leave notes of them for + the use of his pupils or patients. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But what would you say, if he came back sooner than he had + intended, and, owing to an unexpected change of the winds or other + celestial influences, something else happened to be better for them,—would + he not venture to suggest this new remedy, although not contemplated in + his former prescription? Would he persist in observing the original law, + neither himself giving any new commandments, nor the patient daring to do + otherwise than was prescribed, under the idea that this course only was + healthy and medicinal, all others noxious and heterodox? Viewed in the + light of science and true art, would not all such enactments be utterly + ridiculous? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Utterly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And if he who gave laws, written or unwritten, determining what + was good or bad, honourable or dishonourable, just or unjust, to the + tribes of men who flock together in their several cities, and are governed + in accordance with them; if, I say, the wise legislator were suddenly to + come again, or another like to him, is he to be prohibited from changing + them?—would not this prohibition be in reality quite as ridiculous + as the other? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Do you know a plausible saying of the common people which is in + point? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: I do not recall what you mean at the moment. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: They say that if any one knows how the ancient laws may be + improved, he must first persuade his own State of the improvement, and + then he may legislate, but not otherwise. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: And are they not right? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I dare say. But supposing that he does use some gentle violence + for their good, what is this violence to be called? Or rather, before you + answer, let me ask the same question in reference to our previous + instances. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What do you mean? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Suppose that a skilful physician has a patient, of whatever sex + or age, whom he compels against his will to do something for his good + which is contrary to the written rules; what is this compulsion to be + called? Would you ever dream of calling it a violation of the art, or a + breach of the laws of health? Nothing could be more unjust than for the + patient to whom such violence is applied, to charge the physician who + practises the violence with wanting skill or aggravating his disease. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Most true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: In the political art error is not called disease, but evil, or + disgrace, or injustice. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Quite true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And when the citizen, contrary to law and custom, is compelled + to do what is juster and better and nobler than he did before, the last + and most absurd thing which he could say about such violence is that he + has incurred disgrace or evil or injustice at the hands of those who + compelled him. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And shall we say that the violence, if exercised by a rich man, + is just, and if by a poor man, unjust? May not any man, rich or poor, with + or without laws, with the will of the citizens or against the will of the + citizens, do what is for their interest? Is not this the true principle of + government, according to which the wise and good man will order the + affairs of his subjects? As the pilot, by watching continually over the + interests of the ship and of the crew,—not by laying down rules, but + by making his art a law,—preserves the lives of his fellow-sailors, + even so, and in the self-same way, may there not be a true form of polity + created by those who are able to govern in a similar spirit, and who show + a strength of art which is superior to the law? Nor can wise rulers ever + err while they observing the one great rule of distributing justice to the + citizens with intelligence and skill, are able to preserve them, and, as + far as may be, to make them better from being worse. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: No one can deny what has been now said. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Neither, if you consider, can any one deny the other statement. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What was it? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: We said that no great number of persons, whoever they may be, + can attain political knowledge, or order a State wisely, but that the true + government is to be found in a small body, or in an individual, and that + other States are but imitations of this, as we said a little while ago, + some for the better and some for the worse. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What do you mean? I cannot have understood your previous + remark about imitations. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And yet the mere suggestion which I hastily threw out is highly + important, even if we leave the question where it is, and do not seek by + the discussion of it to expose the error which prevails in this matter. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What do you mean? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The idea which has to be grasped by us is not easy or familiar; + but we may attempt to express it thus:—Supposing the government of + which I have been speaking to be the only true model, then the others must + use the written laws of this—in no other way can they be saved; they + will have to do what is now generally approved, although not the best + thing in the world. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What is this? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: No citizen should do anything contrary to the laws, and any + infringement of them should be punished with death and the most extreme + penalties; and this is very right and good when regarded as the second + best thing, if you set aside the first, of which I was just now speaking. + Shall I explain the nature of what I call the second best? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: By all means. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I must again have recourse to my favourite images; through them, + and them alone, can I describe kings and rulers. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What images? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The noble pilot and the wise physician, who 'is worth many + another man'—in the similitude of these let us endeavour to discover + some image of the king. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What sort of an image? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Well, such as this:—Every man will reflect that he suffers + strange things at the hands of both of them; the physician saves any whom + he wishes to save, and any whom he wishes to maltreat he maltreats—cutting + or burning them; and at the same time requiring them to bring him + payments, which are a sort of tribute, of which little or nothing is spent + upon the sick man, and the greater part is consumed by him and his + domestics; and the finale is that he receives money from the relations of + the sick man or from some enemy of his, and puts him out of the way. And + the pilots of ships are guilty of numberless evil deeds of the same kind; + they intentionally play false and leave you ashore when the hour of + sailing arrives; or they cause mishaps at sea and cast away their freight; + and are guilty of other rogueries. Now suppose that we, bearing all this + in mind, were to determine, after consideration, that neither of these + arts shall any longer be allowed to exercise absolute control either over + freemen or over slaves, but that we will summon an assembly either of all + the people, or of the rich only, that anybody who likes, whatever may be + his calling, or even if he have no calling, may offer an opinion either + about seamanship or about diseases—whether as to the manner in which + physic or surgical instruments are to be applied to the patient, or again + about the vessels and the nautical implements which are required in + navigation, and how to meet the dangers of winds and waves which are + incidental to the voyage, how to behave when encountering pirates, and + what is to be done with the old-fashioned galleys, if they have to fight + with others of a similar build—and that, whatever shall be decreed + by the multitude on these points, upon the advice of persons skilled or + unskilled, shall be written down on triangular tablets and columns, or + enacted although unwritten to be national customs; and that in all future + time vessels shall be navigated and remedies administered to the patient + after this fashion. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What a strange notion! + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Suppose further, that the pilots and physicians are appointed + annually, either out of the rich, or out of the whole people, and that + they are elected by lot; and that after their election they navigate + vessels and heal the sick according to the written rules. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Worse and worse. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But hear what follows:—When the year of office has + expired, the pilot or physician has to come before a court of review, in + which the judges are either selected from the wealthy classes or chosen by + lot out of the whole people; and anybody who pleases may be their accuser, + and may lay to their charge, that during the past year they have not + navigated their vessels or healed their patients according to the letter + of the law and the ancient customs of their ancestors; and if either of + them is condemned, some of the judges must fix what he is to suffer or + pay. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: He who is willing to take a command under such conditions, + deserves to suffer any penalty. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Yet once more, we shall have to enact that if any one is + detected enquiring into piloting and navigation, or into health and the + true nature of medicine, or about the winds, or other conditions of the + atmosphere, contrary to the written rules, and has any ingenious notions + about such matters, he is not to be called a pilot or physician, but a + cloudy prating sophist;—further, on the ground that he is a + corrupter of the young, who would persuade them to follow the art of + medicine or piloting in an unlawful manner, and to exercise an arbitrary + rule over their patients or ships, any one who is qualified by law may + inform against him, and indict him in some court, and then if he is found + to be persuading any, whether young or old, to act contrary to the written + law, he is to be punished with the utmost rigour; for no one should + presume to be wiser than the laws; and as touching healing and health and + piloting and navigation, the nature of them is known to all, for anybody + may learn the written laws and the national customs. If such were the mode + of procedure, Socrates, about these sciences and about generalship, and + any branch of hunting, or about painting or imitation in general, or + carpentry, or any sort of handicraft, or husbandry, or planting, or if we + were to see an art of rearing horses, or tending herds, or divination, or + any ministerial service, or draught-playing, or any science conversant + with number, whether simple or square or cube, or comprising motion,—I + say, if all these things were done in this way according to written + regulations, and not according to art, what would be the result? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: All the arts would utterly perish, and could never be + recovered, because enquiry would be unlawful. And human life, which is bad + enough already, would then become utterly unendurable. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But what, if while compelling all these operations to be + regulated by written law, we were to appoint as the guardian of the laws + some one elected by a show of hands, or by lot, and he caring nothing + about the laws, were to act contrary to them from motives of interest or + favour, and without knowledge,—would not this be a still worse evil + than the former? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: To go against the laws, which are based upon long experience, + and the wisdom of counsellors who have graciously recommended them and + persuaded the multitude to pass them, would be a far greater and more + ruinous error than any adherence to written law? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Therefore, as there is a danger of this, the next best thing in + legislating is not to allow either the individual or the multitude to + break the law in any respect whatever. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The laws would be copies of the true particulars of action as + far as they admit of being written down from the lips of those who have + knowledge? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly they would. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And, as we were saying, he who has knowledge and is a true + Statesman, will do many things within his own sphere of action by his art + without regard to the laws, when he is of opinion that something other + than that which he has written down and enjoined to be observed during his + absence would be better. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes, we said so. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And any individual or any number of men, having fixed laws, in + acting contrary to them with a view to something better, would only be + acting, as far as they are able, like the true Statesman? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: If they had no knowledge of what they were doing, they would + imitate the truth, and they would always imitate ill; but if they had + knowledge, the imitation would be the perfect truth, and an imitation no + longer. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Quite true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And the principle that no great number of men are able to + acquire a knowledge of any art has been already admitted by us. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes, it has. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then the royal or political art, if there be such an art, will + never be attained either by the wealthy or by the other mob. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Impossible. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then the nearest approach which these lower forms of government + can ever make to the true government of the one scientific ruler, is to do + nothing contrary to their own written laws and national customs. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very good. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: When the rich imitate the true form, such a government is called + aristocracy; and when they are regardless of the laws, oligarchy. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Or again, when an individual rules according to law in imitation + of him who knows, we call him a king; and if he rules according to law, we + give him the same name, whether he rules with opinion or with knowledge. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: To be sure. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And when an individual truly possessing knowledge rules, his + name will surely be the same—he will be called a king; and thus the + five names of governments, as they are now reckoned, become one. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: That is true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And when an individual ruler governs neither by law nor by + custom, but following in the steps of the true man of science pretends + that he can only act for the best by violating the laws, while in reality + appetite and ignorance are the motives of the imitation, may not such an + one be called a tyrant? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And this we believe to be the origin of the tyrant and the king, + of oligarchies, and aristocracies, and democracies,—because men are + offended at the one monarch, and can never be made to believe that any one + can be worthy of such authority, or is able and willing in the spirit of + virtue and knowledge to act justly and holily to all; they fancy that he + will be a despot who will wrong and harm and slay whom he pleases of us; + for if there could be such a despot as we describe, they would acknowledge + that we ought to be too glad to have him, and that he alone would be the + happy ruler of a true and perfect State. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: To be sure. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But then, as the State is not like a beehive, and has no natural + head who is at once recognized to be the superior both in body and in + mind, mankind are obliged to meet and make laws, and endeavour to approach + as nearly as they can to the true form of government. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And when the foundation of politics is in the letter only and in + custom, and knowledge is divorced from action, can we wonder, Socrates, at + the miseries which there are, and always will be, in States? Any other + art, built on such a foundation and thus conducted, would ruin all that it + touched. Ought we not rather to wonder at the natural strength of the + political bond? For States have endured all this, time out of mind, and + yet some of them still remain and are not overthrown, though many of them, + like ships at sea, founder from time to time, and perish and have perished + and will hereafter perish, through the badness of their pilots and crews, + who have the worst sort of ignorance of the highest truths—I mean to + say, that they are wholly unaquainted with politics, of which, above all + other sciences, they believe themselves to have acquired the most perfect + knowledge. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then the question arises:—which of these untrue forms of + government is the least oppressive to their subjects, though they are all + oppressive; and which is the worst of them? Here is a consideration which + is beside our present purpose, and yet having regard to the whole it seems + to influence all our actions: we must examine it. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes, we must. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: You may say that of the three forms, the same is at once the + hardest and the easiest. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What do you mean? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I am speaking of the three forms of government, which I + mentioned at the beginning of this discussion—monarchy, the rule of + the few, and the rule of the many. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: If we divide each of these we shall have six, from which the + true one may be distinguished as a seventh. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How would you make the division? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Monarchy divides into royalty and tyranny; the rule of the few + into aristocracy, which has an auspicious name, and oligarchy; and + democracy or the rule of the many, which before was one, must now be + divided. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: On what principle of division? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: On the same principle as before, although the name is now + discovered to have a twofold meaning. For the distinction of ruling with + law or without law, applies to this as well as to the rest. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The division made no difference when we were looking for the + perfect State, as we showed before. But now that this has been separated + off, and, as we said, the others alone are left for us, the principle of + law and the absence of law will bisect them all. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: That would seem to follow, from what has been said. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then monarchy, when bound by good prescriptions or laws, is the + best of all the six, and when lawless is the most bitter and oppressive to + the subject. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The government of the few, which is intermediate between that of + the one and many, is also intermediate in good and evil; but the + government of the many is in every respect weak and unable to do either + any great good or any great evil, when compared with the others, because + the offices are too minutely subdivided and too many hold them. And this + therefore is the worst of all lawful governments, and the best of all + lawless ones. If they are all without the restraints of law, democracy is + the form in which to live is best; if they are well ordered, then this is + the last which you should choose, as royalty, the first form, is the best, + with the exception of the seventh, for that excels them all, and is among + States what God is among men. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: You are quite right, and we should choose that above all. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The members of all these States, with the exception of the one + which has knowledge, may be set aside as being not Statesmen but + partisans,—upholders of the most monstrous idols, and themselves + idols; and, being the greatest imitators and magicians, they are also the + greatest of Sophists. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: The name of Sophist after many windings in the argument + appears to have been most justly fixed upon the politicians, as they are + termed. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And so our satyric drama has been played out; and the troop of + Centaurs and Satyrs, however unwilling to leave the stage, have at last + been separated from the political science. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: So I perceive. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: There remain, however, natures still more troublesome, because + they are more nearly akin to the king, and more difficult to discern; the + examination of them may be compared to the process of refining gold. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What is your meaning? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The workmen begin by sifting away the earth and stones and the + like; there remain in a confused mass the valuable elements akin to gold, + which can only be separated by fire,—copper, silver, and other + precious metal; these are at last refined away by the use of tests, until + the gold is left quite pure. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes, that is the way in which these things are said to be + done. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: In like manner, all alien and uncongenial matter has been + separated from political science, and what is precious and of a kindred + nature has been left; there remain the nobler arts of the general and the + judge, and the higher sort of oratory which is an ally of the royal art, + and persuades men to do justice, and assists in guiding the helm of + States:—How can we best clear away all these, leaving him whom we + seek alone and unalloyed? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: That is obviously what has in some way to be attempted. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: If the attempt is all that is wanting, he shall certainly be + brought to light; and I think that the illustration of music may assist in + exhibiting him. Please to answer me a question. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What question? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: There is such a thing as learning music or handicraft arts in + general? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: There is. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And is there any higher art or science, having power to decide + which of these arts are and are not to be learned;—what do you say? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: I should answer that there is. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And do we acknowledge this science to be different from the + others? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And ought the other sciences to be superior to this, or no + single science to any other? Or ought this science to be the overseer and + governor of all the others? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: The latter. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: You mean to say that the science which judges whether we ought + to learn or not, must be superior to the science which is learned or which + teaches? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Far superior. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And the science which determines whether we ought to persuade or + not, must be superior to the science which is able to persuade? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Of course. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Very good; and to what science do we assign the power of + persuading a multitude by a pleasing tale and not by teaching? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: That power, I think, must clearly be assigned to rhetoric. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And to what science do we give the power of determining whether + we are to employ persuasion or force towards any one, or to refrain + altogether? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: To that science which governs the arts of speech and + persuasion. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Which, if I am not mistaken, will be politics? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very good. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Rhetoric seems to be quickly distinguished from politics, being + a different species, yet ministering to it. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But what would you think of another sort of power or science? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What science? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The science which has to do with military operations against our + enemies—is that to be regarded as a science or not? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How can generalship and military tactics be regarded as + other than a science? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And is the art which is able and knows how to advise when we are + to go to war, or to make peace, the same as this or different? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: If we are to be consistent, we must say different. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And we must also suppose that this rules the other, if we are + not to give up our former notion? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And, considering how great and terrible the whole art of war is, + can we imagine any which is superior to it but the truly royal? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: No other. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The art of the general is only ministerial, and therefore not + political? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Exactly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Once more let us consider the nature of the righteous judge. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very good. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Does he do anything but decide the dealings of men with one + another to be just or unjust in accordance with the standard which he + receives from the king and legislator,—showing his own peculiar + virtue only in this, that he is not perverted by gifts, or fears, or pity, + or by any sort of favour or enmity, into deciding the suits of men with + one another contrary to the appointment of the legislator? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: No; his office is such as you describe. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then the inference is that the power of the judge is not royal, + but only the power of a guardian of the law which ministers to the royal + power? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The review of all these sciences shows that none of them is + political or royal. For the truly royal ought not itself to act, but to + rule over those who are able to act; the king ought to know what is and + what is not a fitting opportunity for taking the initiative in matters of + the greatest importance, whilst others should execute his orders. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And, therefore, the arts which we have described, as they have + no authority over themselves or one another, but are each of them + concerned with some special action of their own, have, as they ought to + have, special names corresponding to their several actions. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: I agree. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And the science which is over them all, and has charge of the + laws, and of all matters affecting the State, and truly weaves them all + into one, if we would describe under a name characteristic of their common + nature, most truly we may call politics. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Exactly so. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then, now that we have discovered the various classes in a + State, shall I analyse politics after the pattern which weaving supplied? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: I greatly wish that you would. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then I must describe the nature of the royal web, and show how + the various threads are woven into one piece. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Clearly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: A task has to be accomplished, which, although difficult, + appears to be necessary. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly the attempt must be made. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: To assume that one part of virtue differs in kind from another, + is a position easily assailable by contentious disputants, who appeal to + popular opinion. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: I do not understand. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Let me put the matter in another way: I suppose that you would + consider courage to be a part of virtue? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly I should. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And you would think temperance to be different from courage; and + likewise to be a part of virtue? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I shall venture to put forward a strange theory about them. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What is it? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: That they are two principles which thoroughly hate one another + and are antagonistic throughout a great part of nature. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How singular! + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Yes, very—for all the parts of virtue are commonly said to + be friendly to one another. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then let us carefully investigate whether this is universally + true, or whether there are not parts of virtue which are at war with their + kindred in some respect. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Tell me how we shall consider that question. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: We must extend our enquiry to all those things which we consider + beautiful and at the same time place in two opposite classes. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Explain; what are they? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Acuteness and quickness, whether in body or soul or in the + movement of sound, and the imitations of them which painting and music + supply, you must have praised yourself before now, or been present when + others praised them. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And do you remember the terms in which they are praised? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: I do not. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I wonder whether I can explain to you in words the thought which + is passing in my mind. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Why not? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: You fancy that this is all so easy: Well, let us consider these + notions with reference to the opposite classes of action under which they + fall. When we praise quickness and energy and acuteness, whether of mind + or body or sound, we express our praise of the quality which we admire by + one word, and that one word is manliness or courage. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: We speak of an action as energetic and brave, quick and manly, + and vigorous too; and when we apply the name of which I speak as the + common attribute of all these natures, we certainly praise them. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And do we not often praise the quiet strain of action also? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: To be sure. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And do we not then say the opposite of what we said of the + other? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How do you mean? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: We exclaim How calm! How temperate! in admiration of the slow + and quiet working of the intellect, and of steadiness and gentleness in + action, of smoothness and depth of voice, and of all rhythmical movement + and of music in general, when these have a proper solemnity. Of all such + actions we predicate not courage, but a name indicative of order. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But when, on the other hand, either of these is out of place, + the names of either are changed into terms of censure. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How so? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Too great sharpness or quickness or hardness is termed violence + or madness; too great slowness or gentleness is called cowardice or + sluggishness; and we may observe, that for the most part these qualities, + and the temperance and manliness of the opposite characters, are arrayed + as enemies on opposite sides, and do not mingle with one another in their + respective actions; and if we pursue the enquiry, we shall find that men + who have these different qualities of mind differ from one another. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: In what respect? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: In respect of all the qualities which I mentioned, and very + likely of many others. According to their respective affinities to either + class of actions they distribute praise and blame,—praise to the + actions which are akin to their own, blame to those of the opposite party—and + out of this many quarrels and occasions of quarrel arise among them. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The difference between the two classes is often a trivial + concern; but in a state, and when affecting really important matters, + becomes of all disorders the most hateful. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: To what do you refer? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: To nothing short of the whole regulation of human life. For the + orderly class are always ready to lead a peaceful life, quietly doing + their own business; this is their manner of behaving with all men at home, + and they are equally ready to find some way of keeping the peace with + foreign States. And on account of this fondness of theirs for peace, which + is often out of season where their influence prevails, they become by + degrees unwarlike, and bring up their young men to be like themselves; + they are at the mercy of their enemies; whence in a few years they and + their children and the whole city often pass imperceptibly from the + condition of freemen into that of slaves. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What a cruel fate! + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And now think of what happens with the more courageous natures. + Are they not always inciting their country to go to war, owing to their + excessive love of the military life? they raise up enemies against + themselves many and mighty, and either utterly ruin their native-land or + enslave and subject it to its foes? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: That, again, is true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Must we not admit, then, that where these two classes exist, + they always feel the greatest antipathy and antagonism towards one + another? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: We cannot deny it. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And returning to the enquiry with which we began, have we not + found that considerable portions of virtue are at variance with one + another, and give rise to a similar opposition in the characters who are + endowed with them? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: True. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Let us consider a further point. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: What is it? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: I want to know, whether any constructive art will make any, even + the most trivial thing, out of bad and good materials indifferently, if + this can be helped? does not all art rather reject the bad as far as + possible, and accept the good and fit materials, and from these elements, + whether like or unlike, gathering them all into one, work out some nature + or idea? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: To, be sure. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Then the true and natural art of statesmanship will never allow + any State to be formed by a combination of good and bad men, if this can + be avoided; but will begin by testing human natures in play, and after + testing them, will entrust them to proper teachers who are the ministers + of her purposes—she will herself give orders, and maintain + authority; just as the art of weaving continually gives orders and + maintains authority over the carders and all the others who prepare the + material for the work, commanding the subsidiary arts to execute the works + which she deems necessary for making the web. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Quite true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: In like manner, the royal science appears to me to be the + mistress of all lawful educators and instructors, and having this queenly + power, will not permit them to train men in what will produce characters + unsuited to the political constitution which she desires to create, but + only in what will produce such as are suitable. Those which have no share + of manliness and temperance, or any other virtuous inclination, and, from + the necessity of an evil nature, are violently carried away to godlessness + and insolence and injustice, she gets rid of by death and exile, and + punishes them with the greatest of disgraces. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: That is commonly said. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But those who are wallowing in ignorance and baseness she bows + under the yoke of slavery. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Quite right. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The rest of the citizens, out of whom, if they have education, + something noble may be made, and who are capable of being united by the + statesman, the kingly art blends and weaves together; taking on the one + hand those whose natures tend rather to courage, which is the stronger + element and may be regarded as the warp, and on the other hand those which + incline to order and gentleness, and which are represented in the figure + as spun thick and soft, after the manner of the woof—these, which + are naturally opposed, she seeks to bind and weave together in the + following manner: + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: In what manner? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: First of all, she takes the eternal element of the soul and + binds it with a divine cord, to which it is akin, and then the animal + nature, and binds that with human cords. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: I do not understand what you mean. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The meaning is, that the opinion about the honourable and the + just and good and their opposites, which is true and confirmed by reason, + is a divine principle, and when implanted in the soul, is implanted, as I + maintain, in a nature of heavenly birth. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes; what else should it be? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Only the Statesman and the good legislator, having the + inspiration of the royal muse, can implant this opinion, and he, only in + the rightly educated, whom we were just now describing. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Likely enough. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But him who cannot, we will not designate by any of the names + which are the subject of the present enquiry. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very right. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The courageous soul when attaining this truth becomes civilized, + and rendered more capable of partaking of justice; but when not partaking, + is inclined to brutality. Is not that true? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And again, the peaceful and orderly nature, if sharing in these + opinions, becomes temperate and wise, as far as this may be in a State, + but if not, deservedly obtains the ignominious name of silliness. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Quite true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Can we say that such a connexion as this will lastingly unite + the evil with one another or with the good, or that any science would + seriously think of using a bond of this kind to join such materials? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Impossible. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: But in those who were originally of a noble nature, and who have + been nurtured in noble ways, and in those only, may we not say that union + is implanted by law, and that this is the medicine which art prescribes + for them, and of all the bonds which unite the dissimilar and contrary + parts of virtue is not this, as I was saying, the divinest? + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Where this divine bond exists there is no difficulty in + imagining, or when you have imagined, in creating the other bonds, which + are human only. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How is that, and what bonds do you mean? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Rights of intermarriage, and ties which are formed between + States by giving and taking children in marriage, or between individuals + by private betrothals and espousals. For most persons form marriage + connexions without due regard to what is best for the procreation of + children. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: In what way? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: They seek after wealth and power, which in matrimony are objects + not worthy even of a serious censure. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: There is no need to consider them at all. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: More reason is there to consider the practice of those who make + family their chief aim, and to indicate their error. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Quite true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: They act on no true principle at all; they seek their ease and + receive with open arms those who are like themselves, and hate those who + are unlike them, being too much influenced by feelings of dislike. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How so? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The quiet orderly class seek for natures like their own, and as + far as they can they marry and give in marriage exclusively in this class, + and the courageous do the same; they seek natures like their own, whereas + they should both do precisely the opposite. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How and why is that? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Because courage, when untempered by the gentler nature during + many generations, may at first bloom and strengthen, but at last bursts + forth into downright madness. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Like enough. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: And then, again, the soul which is over-full of modesty and has + no element of courage in many successive generations, is apt to grow too + indolent, and at last to become utterly paralyzed and useless. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: That, again, is quite likely. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: It was of these bonds I said that there would be no difficulty + in creating them, if only both classes originally held the same opinion + about the honourable and good;—indeed, in this single work, the + whole process of royal weaving is comprised—never to allow temperate + natures to be separated from the brave, but to weave them together, like + the warp and the woof, by common sentiments and honours and reputation, + and by the giving of pledges to one another; and out of them forming one + smooth and even web, to entrust to them the offices of State. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: How do you mean? + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: Where one officer only is needed, you must choose a ruler who + has both these qualities—when many, you must mingle some of each, + for the temperate ruler is very careful and just and safe, but is wanting + in thoroughness and go. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly, that is very true. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: The character of the courageous, on the other hand, falls short + of the former in justice and caution, but has the power of action in a + remarkable degree, and where either of these two qualities is wanting, + there cities cannot altogether prosper either in their public or private + life. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly they cannot. + </p> + <p> + STRANGER: This then we declare to be the completion of the web of + political action, which is created by a direct intertexture of the brave + and temperate natures, whenever the royal science has drawn the two minds + into communion with one another by unanimity and friendship, and having + perfected the noblest and best of all the webs which political life + admits, and enfolding therein all other inhabitants of cities, whether + slaves or freemen, binds them in one fabric and governs and presides over + them, and, in so far as to be happy is vouchsafed to a city, in no + particular fails to secure their happiness. + </p> + <p> + YOUNG SOCRATES: Your picture, Stranger, of the king and statesman, no less + than of the Sophist, is quite perfect. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Statesman, by Plato + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STATESMAN *** + +***** This file should be named 1738-h.htm or 1738-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/3/1738/ + +Produced by Sue Asscher, and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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