[590b]
and irascibility when they foster and
intensify disproportionately the element of the lion and the snake1 in us?”
“By all means.” “And do we not reprobate
luxury and effeminacy for their loosening and relaxation of this same
element when they engender cowardice in it?”
“Surely.” “And flattery and illiberality when
they reduce this same high-spirited element under the rule of the mob-like
beast and habituate it for the sake of wealth and the unbridled lusts of the
beast to endure all manner of contumely from youth up and become an ape2 instead of a
lion?”
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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