[545c]
we will consider the man of that type, and thereafter
oligarchy and the oligarch, and again, fixing our eyes on democracy, we will
contemplate the democratic man: and fourthly, after coming to the city ruled
by a tyrant and observing it, we will in turn take a look into the
tyrannical soul,1 and so
try to make ourselves competent judges2 of the question before us.” “That
would be at least3 a systematic and consistent way of conducting
the observation and the decision,” he said.“Come, then,” said I, “let us
try to tell in what way a timocracy would arise out of an aristocracy.
1 Cf. 577 A-B.
2 Cf. 582 A ff.
3 For the qualified assent Cf. HamletI. i. 19 “What? is Horatio there? A piece of him.” It is very frequent in the Republic, usually with γοῦν. Cf. 442 D, 469 B, 476 C, 501 C, 537 C, 584 A, 555 B, 604 D,and Vol. I. p. 30, note a, on 334 A; also 460 C and 398 B, where the interlocutor adds a condition, 392 B, 405 B, 556 E, 581 B, and 487 A, where he uses the corrective μὲν οὖν.
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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