[339b]
But you add thereto that of the
stronger.” “A trifling addition1 perhaps you think
it,” he said. “It is not yet clear2 whether it is a big one either; but that we must inquire whether
what you say is true, is clear.3 For since I too admit that the
just is something that is of advantage4—but you are for making an addition and affirm it to be
the advantage of the stronger, while I don't profess to know,5 we must pursue the inquiry.”
“Inquire away,” he said.“I will do so,” said I. “Tell me, then; you
affirm also, do you not, that obedience to rulers is just?”
1 Cf. Laches 182 C.
2 For the teasing or challenging repetition cf. 394 B, 470 B-C, 487 E, 493 A, 500 B, 505 D, 514 B, 517 C, 523 A, 527 C, Lysis 203 B, Sophocles O.T. 327.
3 For the teasing or challenging repetition cf. 394 B, 470 B-C, 487 E, 493 A, 500 B, 505 D, 514 B, 517 C, 523 A, 527 C, Lysis 203 B, Sophocles O.T. 327.
4 For Plato's so-called utilitarianism or eudaemonism see 457 B, Unity of Plato's Thought, pp. 21-22, Gomperz, ii. p. 262. He would have nearly accepted Bentham's statement that while the proper end of government is the greatest happiness of the greatest number, the actual end of every government is the greatest happiness of the governors. Cf. Leslie Stephen, English Utilitarianism, i. p. 282, ii. p. 89.
5 This profession of ignorance may have been a trait of the real Socrates, but in Plato it is a dramatic device for the evolution of the argument.
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6 translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969.
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