[564e]
tolerates1 no dissent, so that everything
with slight exceptions is administered by that class in such a
state.” “Quite so,” he said. “And so
from time to time there emerges or is secreted from the multitude another
group of this sort.” “What sort?” he said.
“When all are pursuing wealth the most orderly and thrifty natures
for the most part become the richest.” “It is
likely.” “Then they are the most abundant supply of
honey for the drones, and it is the easiest to extract.2”
“Why, yes,” he said, “how could one squeeze it
out of those who have little?” “The capitalistic3 class is, I take it, the name by which they are
designated—the pasture of the drones.” “Pretty
much so,” he said.
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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