[134c]
Socrates
But could one possibly impart a thing that one had not?Alcibiades
How, indeed?Socrates
Then you or anyone else who is to be governor and curator, not merely of himself and his belongings in private, but of the state and its affairs, must first acquire virtue himself.Alcibiades
That is true.Socrates
Hence it is not licence or authority for doing what one pleases that you have to secure to yourself or the state, but justice and temperance.Alcibiades
Apparently.
But could one possibly impart a thing that one had not?Alcibiades
How, indeed?Socrates
Then you or anyone else who is to be governor and curator, not merely of himself and his belongings in private, but of the state and its affairs, must first acquire virtue himself.Alcibiades
That is true.Socrates
Hence it is not licence or authority for doing what one pleases that you have to secure to yourself or the state, but justice and temperance.Alcibiades
Apparently.