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[339c] “I do.” “May I ask whether the rulers in the various states are infallible1 or capable sometimes of error?” “Surely,” he said, “they are liable to err.” “Then in their attempts at legislation they enact some laws rightly and some not rightly, do they not?” “So I suppose.” “And by rightly we are to understand for their advantage, and by wrongly to their disadvantage? Do you mean that or not?” “That.” “But whatever they enact2 must be performed by their subjects and is justice?” “Of course.”

1 The argument turns on the opposition between the real (i.e. ideal) and the mistakenly supposed interest of the rulers. See on 334 C.

2 Cf. 338 E and Theaetetus 177 D.

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    • R. G. Bury, The Symposium of Plato, 183D
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