[580b]
“now
at last, even as the judge of last instance1 pronounces, so do
you declare who in your opinion is first in happiness and who second, and
similarly judge the others, all five in succession, the royal, the
timocratic, the oligarchic, the democratic, and the tyrannical
man.” “Nay,” he said, “the decision
is easy. For as if they were choruses I judge them in the order of their
entrance, and so rank them in respect of virtue and vice, happiness and its
contrary.” “Shall we hire a herald,2
then,” said I, “or shall I myself make proclamation that
the son of Ariston pronounced the best man3 and the most
righteous to be the happiest,4
1 Adam has an exhaustive technical note on this.
2 Cf. Phileb. 66 Aὑπό τε ἀγγέλων πέμπων, etc., Eurip.Alc. 737κηρύκων ὕπο. Grote and other liberals are offended by the intensity of Plato's moral conviction. See What Plato Said, p. 364, Laws 662-663, Unity of Plato's Thought, p.25.
3 Plato puns on the name Ariston. For other such puns Cf. Gorg. 463 E, 481 D, 513 B, Rep. 600 B, 614 B, Symp. 174 B, 185 C, 198 C.
4 Cf. Laws 664 B-C.
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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