[472e]
as we say, trying to create in words the pattern of a
good state?” “Certainly.” “Do you
think, then, that our words are any the less well spoken if we find
ourselves unable to prove that it is possible for a state to be governed in
accordance with our words?” “Of course not,”
he said. “That, then,” said I, “is the
truth1 of the matter.
But if, to please you, we must do our best to show how most probably and in
what respect these things would be most nearly realized, again, with a view
to such a demonstration, grant me the same point.2” “What?”
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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