[575c]
“Yes, small evils indeed,1” he said,
“if the men of this sort are few.” “Why,
yes,” I said, “for small evils are relatively small
compared with great, and in respect of the corruption and misery of a state
all of them together, as the saying goes, don't come within hail2 of the mischief done by a
tyrant. For when men of this sort and their followers become numerous in a
state and realize their numbers, then it is they who, in conjunction with
the folly of the people, create a tyrant out of that one of them who has
1 So Shaw and other moderns argue in a somewhat different tone that crimes of this sort are an unimportant matter.
2 οὐδ᾽ ἴκταρ βάλλει was proverbial, “doesn't strike near,” “doesn't come within range.” Cf. Aelian, N.A. xv. 29. Cf. also οὐδ᾽ ἐγγύς, Symp. 198 B, 221 D, Herod. ii. 121, Demosth.De cor. 97.
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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