[440b]
that he reviles
himself and is angry with that within which masters him and that as it were
in a faction of two parties the high spirit of such a man becomes the ally
of his reason? But its1 making common
cause2 with the desires against the reason
when reason whispers low3‘Thou must not’—that, I
think, is a kind of thing you would not affirm ever to have perceived in
yourself, nor, I fancy, in anybody else either.”
1 αὐτόν: we shift from the θυμός to the man and back again.
2 ἀντιπράττειν: that is, opposite the reason. It may be construed with δεῖν or as the verb of αὐτόν. There are no real difficulties in the passage, though many have been found. The order of the words and the anacoluthon are intentional and effective. Cf. on 434 C.οὐκ ἂν . . . ποτέ is to literal understanding an exaggeration. But Plato is speaking of the normal action of uncorrupted θυμός. Plato would not accept the psychology of Euripides'Medea（1079-1080):καὶ μανθάνω μὲν οἷα δρᾶν μέλλω κακά, θυμὸς δὲ κρείσσω τῶν ἐμῶν βουλευμάτων. Cf. Dr. Loeb's translation of Décharme, p. 340.
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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