[
559a]
Is not that so ?”
“Most assuredly.” “Then we shall rightly use
the word ‘necessary’ of them?”
“Rightly.” “And what of the desires from which
a man could free himself by discipline from youth up, and whose presence in
the soul does no good and in some cases harm? Should we not fairly call all
such unnecessary?” “Fairly indeed.”
“Let us select an example of either kind, so that we may apprehend
the type.
1” “Let us do
so.” “Would not the desire of eating to keep in health
and condition and the appetite
[
559b]
for mere
bread and relishes
2 be
necessary?” “I think so.” “The
appetite for bread is necessary in both respects, in that it is beneficial
and in that if it fails we die.” “Yes.”
“And the desire for relishes, so far as it conduces to
fitness?” “By all means.” “And
should we not rightly pronounce unnecessary the appetite that exceeds these
and seeks other varieties of food, and that by correction
3 and training from youth up
can be got rid of in most cases and is harmful to the body and a hindrance
to the soul's attainment of
[
559c]
intelligence
and sobriety?” “Nay, most rightly.”
“And may we not call the one group the spendthrift desires and the
other the profitable,
4 because they help
production?” “Surely.” “And we shall
say the same of sexual and other appetites?” “The
same.” “And were we not saying that the man whom we
nicknamed the drone is the man who teems
5 with such
pleasures and appetites, and who is governed by his unnecessary desires,
while the one who is ruled
[
559d]
by his
necessary appetites is the thrifty oligarchical man?”
“Why, surely.”
“To return, then,” said I, “we have to tell
how the democratic man develops from the oligarchical type. I think it is
usually in this way.” “How?” “When a
youth, bred in the illiberal and niggardly fashion that we were describing,
gets a taste of the honey of the drones and associates with fierce
6 and
cunning creatures who know how to purvey pleasures of every kind and
variety
7 and condition, there you must doubtless conceive is the beginning
[
559e]
of the transformation of the
oligarchy in his soul into democracy.” “Quite
inevitably,” he said. “May we not say that just as the
revolution in the city was brought about by the aid of an alliance from
outside, coming to the support of the similar and corresponding party in the
state, so the youth is revolutionized when a like and kindred
8 group of appetites from
outside comes to the aid of one of the parties in his soul?”
“By all means,” he said. “And if, I take it, a
counter-alliance
9 comes to the rescue of the
oligarchical part of his soul, either it may be from his father