[487e]
“but
I would gladly hear your opinion.” “You may hear, then,
that I think that what they say is true.” “How,
then,” he replied, “can it be right to say that our
cities will never be freed from their evils until the philosophers, whom we
admit to be useless to them, become their rulers?” “Your
question,” I said, “requires an answer expressed in a
comparison or parable.1” “And you,” he said,
“of course, are not accustomed to speak in
comparisons!”“So,” said I, “you are making fun of me
after driving me into such an impasse of argument. But, all the same, hear
my comparison
1 Cf. Gory. 517 D, Laws 644 C, Symp. 215 A with Bury's note. Cf. the parable of the great beast 493, and of the many-headed beast, 588-589.
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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