[574c]
his by necessity1 and from his birth? Or for the sake of a blooming
new-found bel ami, not necessary to his life, he would rain blows2 upon the aged
father past his prime, closest of his kin and oldest of his friends? And
would he subject them to those new favorites if he brought them under the
same roof?” “Yes, by Zeus,” he said.
“A most blessed lot it seems to be,” said I,
“to be the parent of a tyrant son.” “It does
indeed,” he said. “And again, when the resources of his
father and mother are exhausted3 and fail
such a one,
1 The word ἀναγκαῖαν means both “necessary” and “akin.” Cf. Eurip.Androm. 671τοιαῦτα λάσκεις τοὺς ἀναγκαίους φίλους.
2 For the idiom πληγαῖς . . . δοῦναι Cf. Phaedr. 254 Eὀδύναις ἔδωκεν with Thompson's note. Cf. 566 Cθανάτῳ δέδοται. For striking his father cf. 569 B, Laws 880 E ff., Aristoph.Clouds 1375 ff., 1421 ff.
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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