[499a]
in one case or in many. Do you think they
have?” “By no means.” “Neither, my
dear fellow, have they ever seriously inclined to hearken to fair and free
discussions whose sole endeavor was to search out the truth1 at any cost for
knowledge's sake, and which dwell apart and salute from afar2 all the subtleties and cavils that lead to
naught but opinion3 and strife in
court-room and in private talk.” “They have
not,” he said.
[499b]
“For
this cause and foreseeing this, we then despite our fears4 declared under
compulsion of the truth5 that neither
city nor polity nor man either will ever be perfected until some chance
compels this uncorrupted remnant of philosophers, who now bear the stigma of
uselessness, to take charge of the state whether they wish it or not, and
constrains the citizens to obey them, or else until by some divine
inspiration6 a genuine passion for true philosophy takes
possession7
[499c]
either of the sons of the men now in
power and sovereignty or of themselves. To affirm that either or both of
these things cannot possibly come to pass is, I say, quite unreasonable.
Only in that case could we be justly ridiculed as uttering things as futile
as day-dreams are.8 Is not that so?”
“It is.” “If, then, the best philosophical
natures have ever been constrained to take charge of the state in infinite
time past,9 or now are in some
barbaric region10
[499d]
far beyond our ken, or shall hereafter
be, we are prepared to maintain our contention11 that the
constitution we have described has been, is, or will be12
realized13 when this philosophic Muse has taken control of the state.14 It
is not a thing impossible to happen, nor are we speaking of impossibilities.
That it is difficult we too admit.” “I also think
so,” he said. “But the multitude—are you going
to say?—does not think so,” said I. “That may
be,” he said. “My dear fellow,”
[499e]
said I, “do not thus absolutely
condemn the multitude.15 They will surely be of
another mind if in no spirit of contention but soothingly and endeavoring to
do away with the dispraise of learning you point out to them whom you mean
by philosophers, and define as we recently did their nature
1 As the Platonic dialectic does (Phileb. 58 C-D, Cf. What Plato Said, p. 611) in contrast with the rhetorician, the lawyer (Theaet. 172 D-E) and the eristic (Euthydem. 272 B, Hipp. Maj. 288 D).
2 Cf. Eurip.Hippol. 102, Psalm cxxxviii. 6 “the proud he knoweth afar off.”
3 Cf. Phaedrus 253 D with Theaetet. 187 C, and Unity of Plato's Thought, p. 48.
4 Cf. on 489 A.
5 Cf. Aristot.Met. 984 b 10, 984 a 19.
6 Cf. Laws 757 E. But we must not attribute personal superstition to Plato. See What Plato Said, index, s.v. Superstition.
7 Cf. Laws 711 D, Thuc. vi. 24. 3; so iv. 4. 1ὁρμὴ ἐπέπεσε.
8 We might say, “talking like vain Utopians or idly idealists.” The scholiast says, p. 348, τοῦτο καὶ κενήν φασι μακαρίαν. cf. supra, Vol. I. on 458 A, and for εὐχαί on 450 D, and Novotny on Epist. vii. 331 D.
9 Cf. Laws 782 A, 678 A-B, and What Plato Said, p. 627 on Laws 676 A-B; Also Isoc.Panath. 204-205, seven hundred years seemed a short time.
10 Cf. Phaedo 78 A.
11 For the ellipsis of the first person of the verb Parmen. 137 C, Laches 180 A. The omission of the third person is very frequent.
12 Cf. 492 E, Laws 711 E, 739 C, 888 E.
13 Cf. Vol. I. Introd. p. xxxii, and ibid. on 472 B, and What Plato Said, p. 564, also 540 D, Newman, Aristot.Pol. i. p. 377.
14 This is what I have called the ABA style. Cf. 599 E, Apol. 20 C, Phaedo 57 B, Laches 185 A, Protag. 344 C, Theaet. 185 A, 190 B, etc. It is nearly what Riddell calls binary structure, Apology, pp. 204-217.
15 It is uncritical to find “contradictions” in variations of mood, emphasis, and expression that are broadly human and that no writer can avoid. Any thinker may at one moment and for one purpose defy popular opinion and for another conciliate it; at one time affirm that it doesn't matter what the ignorant people think or say, and at another urge that prudence bids us be discreet. So St. Paul who says (Gal. i. 10) “Do I seek to please men? for if I yet please men I should not be the servant of Christ,” says also (Rom xiv. 16) “Let no then your good be evil spoken of.” Cf. also What Plato Said, p. 646 on Laws 950 B.
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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