They are very rare.

And what numberless causes may tend utterly to destroy
these rare natures !

What causes ?

In the first place there are their own virtues, their courage,
temperance, and the rest of them, every one of which praise-
worthy qualities (and this is a most singular circumstance) de-
stroys and distracts from philosophy the soul which is the
possessor of them. 5

That is very singular, he replied.

Then there are all the ordinary goods of life — beauty,
wealth, strength, rank, and great connections in the State — on
which I need not enlarge, having given you a general outline
of them ; these also have the effect of corrupting and distract-
ing them.

I know the goods which you mean, and I should like to
know what you mean about them.

Grasp the truth, then, as a whole, I said, and in the right
way, and you will have no difficulty in understanding the pre-
ceding remarks, and they will not appear strange to you.

And how am I to do that ? he asked.

Why, I said, we know that when any seed or plant, whether
vegetable or animal, fails to meet with proper nutriment or
climate or soil, the greater the vigor, the greater the need also
of suitable conditions, because, as I imagine, evil is a greater
enemy to good than to the not-good.

Very true.

There is reason in supposing that the finest natures, when
under alien conditions, receive more injury than the inferior,
because the contrast is greater.

That is true.

And may we not say, Adeimantus, that the most gifted

minds, when they are ill-educated, become the worst ? Do

not great crimes and the spirit of pure evil spring out of a

fullness of nature ruined by education rather than from any

6 Compare 495.



300 PLATO THE TEACHER

inferiority, whereas weak natures are scarcely capable of any
very great good or very great evil ?

There I think that you are right.

And our philosopher follows the same analogy — he is like a
plant which, having proper nurture, grows and matures into
all virtue, but, if sowed and planted in an alien soil,
* becomes the most noxious of all weeds, unless saved by
some divine help. Do you really think, as people are fond of
saying, that our youth are corrupted by the Sophists, or that
individual Sophisters corrupt them in any degree worth speak-
ing of? Are not the public who say these things the greatest
of all Sophists? And do they not educate to perfection alike
young and old, men and women, and fashion them after their
own hearts?

When is this accomplished ? he said.

When they meet together, and the world sits down at an
assembly, or in a court of law, or a theatre, or a camp, or at
some other place of resort, and there is a great uproar, and
they praise some things which are being said or done, and
blame other things, equally exaggerating in both, shouting
and clapping their hands, and the echo of the rocks and the
place in which they are assembled redoubles the sound of the
praise or blame — at such a time will not a young man's heart
leap within him ? Will the influences of education stem the
tide of praise or blame, and not rather be carried away in the
stream ? And will he not have the notions of good and evil
which the public in general have — he will do as they do ; and
as they are, such will he be?

Yes, Socrates ; necessity will compel him.

And yet, I said, there is a still greater necessity, which has
not been mentioned.

What is that ?

The " gentler force " of attainder or exile or death, which,
as you are aware, these new Sophists and educators, who are
the public, apply when their words are powerless.

Indeed they do, and no mistake.

Now what opinion of any other Sophist, or of any private
man, can be expected to overcome in such an unequal contest?

None, he replied.

No, indeed, I said, even to make the attempt is a piece of
folly ; for there neither is, has been, nor ever can be, as I



THE REPUBLIC 3OI

think, another type of character, trained to virtue indepen-
dently of them — I speak, my friend, of man only ; what is
more than man, as the proverb says, is not included : for I
would not have you ignorant that, in the present evil
state of governments, whatever is saved and comes to 4
good is saved by the power of God, as you may truly say.

To that I quite assent, he replied.

Then let me beg your assent also to a further observation.

What is that ?

Why, that all those mercenary adventurers, whom the world
calls Sophists and rivals, do but teach the collective opinion of
the many, which are the opinions of their assemblies ; and this
is their wisdom. I might compare them to a man who should
study the tempers and desires of a mighty strong beast who is
fed by him — he would learn how to approach and handle him,
also at what times and from what causes he is dangerous or the
reverse, and what is the meaning of his several cries, and by
what sounds, when another utters them, he is soothed or in-
furiated ; and you may suppose further that when, by con-
stantly living with him, he has become perfect in all this which
he calls wisdom, he makes a system or art, which he proceeds
to teach, not that he has any real notion of what he is teach-
ing, but he names this honorable and that dishonorable, or
good or evil, or just or unjust, all in accordance with the
tastes and tempers of the great brute, when he has learnt the
meaning of his inarticulate grunts. Good he pronounces to
be what pleases him, and evil what he dislikes ; and he can
give no other account of them except that the just and noble
are the necessary, having never himself seen, and having no
power of explaining to others, the nature of either, or the im-
mense difference between them. Would not he be a rare edu-
cator ?

Indeed, I think that he would.

And in what respect does he differ from him who thinks
that wisdom is the discernment of the tastes and pleasures of
the assembled multitude, whether in painting or music, or, fi-
nally, in politics ? For I suppose you will agree that he who
associates with the many, and exhibits to them his poem or
other work of art or political service, making them his judges,
except under potest, will also experience the fatal necessity of
producing whatever they praise. And yet the reasons are ut-



302 PLATO THE TEACHER

terly ludicrous which they give in confirmation of their notions
about the honorable and good. Did you ever hear any of them
which were not ?

No, nor am I likely to hear.

You recognize the truth of what has been said ? Then let

me ask you to consider further whether the world will ever be

induced to believe in the existence of absolute beauty

4 rather than of the many beautiful, or of the absolute in

each kind rather than of the many in each kind ?

Certainly not.

Then the world cannot possibly be a philosopher?

Impossible.

And therefore philosophers must inevitably fall under the
censure of the world ?

They must.

And of individuals who consort with the mob and seek to
please them ?

That is evident.

Then, do you see any way in which the philosopher can be
preserved in his calling to the end ? and remember what we
were saying of him, that he was to have knowledge and mem-
ory and courage and magnanimity — these were admitted by
us to be the true philosopher's gifts.

Yes.

Now, will not such an one be, from the first, in all things
first among all, especially if his bodily endowments are like his
mental ones ?

Certainly, he said.

And his friends and fellow-citizens will want to use them as
he gets older for their own purposes ?

No question.

Falling at his feet, they will make requests to him and do
him honor and flatter him, because they want to get into their
hands the power which he will one day possess.

That is often the way, he said.

And what will he do under such circumstances, especially if
he be a citizen of a great city, rich and noble, and a tall proper
youth? 6 Will he not be full of boundless aspirations, and
fancy himself able to manage the affairs of Hellenes and of bar-

•Bosanquet thinks this passage refers to Alcibiades. See Protagoras,
note i.



THE REPUBLIC



303



barians, and in the thought of this he will dilate and elevate
himself in the fullness of vain pomp and senseless pride?

Very true, he said.

Now, when he is in this state of mind, if some one gently
comes to him and tells him that he is without sense, which he
must have, and that the missing sense is not to be had without
serving an apprenticeship^ do you think that, under such ad-
verse circumstances, he will be easily induced to listen to
him ?

That would be very unlikely.

But suppose further that there is one person who has feeling,
and who, either from some excellence of disposition or natural
affinity, is inclined or drawn towards philosophy, and his
friends think that they are likely to lose the advantages which
they were going to reap from his friendship, what will be the
effect upon them ? Will they not do and say anything to pre-
vent his learning and to render the teacher powerless, using to
this end private intrigues as well as public prosecutions?

There can be no doubt of that.

And how can one who is thus circumstanced ever 4 5
become a philosopher ?

Impossible.

Then, were we not right in saying that even the very qualities
which make a man a philosopher may, if he be ill-educated,
serve to divert him from philosophy, no less than riches and
their accompaniments and the other so-called goods of life? 7

That was quite true.

Thus, my excellent friend, is brought about the ruin and
failure of the natures best adapted to the best of all pursuits,
who, as we assert, are rare at any time ; and this is the class
out of whom come those who are the authors of the greatest
evil to States and individuals; and also of the greatest good
when the tide carries them in the direction of good ; but a
small man never was the doer of any great thing either to
individuals or States.

That is most true, he said.

They fall away, and philosophy is left desolate, with her
marriage rite incomplete : 8 for her own have forsaken her, and

7 Compare 491.

"Here, as so often, Plato represents the relation between the good soul
and the truth by the figure of love and marriage.



304 PLATO THE TEACHER

while they are leading a false and unbecoming life, she, like an
orphan bereft of her kindred, is dishonored by other unworthy
persons, who enter in and fasten upon her the reproaches which
her reprovers utter ; by whom, as you say, her votaries are
affirmed, some of them to be good for nothing, and the greater
number deserving of everything that is bad.

That is certainly what is said.

Yes; and what else would you expect, I said, when you
think of the puny creatures who, seeing this land open to them
— a land well stocked with fair names and showy titles — like
prisoners who run away out of prison into a sanctuary, take a
leap out of the arts into philosophy ; those who do so being
probably the cleverest hands at their own miserable crafts ? for,
although philosophy be in this evil case, still there remains a
dignity about her which is not found in the other arts. And
many are thus attracted by her whose natures are imperfect and
whose souls are marred and enervated by their meannesses, as
their bodies also are disfigured by their arts and crafts. Is not
that true?

Yes.

Are they not exactly like a bald little tinker who has just
got out of durance and come into a fortune ; he washes the
dirt off him and has a new coat, and is decked out as a bride-
groom going to marry his master's daughter, who is left poor
and desolate ?

6 The figure is exact.

And what will be the issue of such marriages ? Will
they not be vile and bastard ?

There can be no question of that.

And when persons who are unworthy of education approach
philosophy and make an alliance with her who is in a rank above
them, what sort of ideas and opinions are likely to be generated ?
Will they not be sophisms captivating to the ear, yet having
nothing in them genuine or worthy of or akin to true wisdom ?

No doubt, he said.

Then there is a very small remnant, Adeimantus, I said, of
worthy disciples of philosophy : perchance some noble nature,
brought up under good influences, and in the absence of temp-
tation, who is detained by exile in her service, which he refuses
to quit ; or some lofty soul born in a mean city, the politics of
which he contemns or neglects ; and perhaps there may be a



THE REPUBLIC 305

few who, having a gift for philosophy, leave other arts, which
they justly despise 9 and come to her ; and peradventure there
are some who are restrained by our friend Theages' bridle (for
Theages, 10 you know, had everything to divert him from philoso-
phy ; but his ill-health kept him from politics). My own case
of the internal sign n is indeed hardly worth mentioning, as
very rarely, if ever, has such a monitor been vouchsafed to any
one else. Those who belong to this small class have tasted how
sweet and blessed a possession philosophy is, and have also seen
and been satisfied of the madness of the multitude, and known
that there is no one who ever acts honestly in the administra-
tion of States, nor any helper who will save any one who main-
tains the cause of the just. Such a saviour would be like a
man who has fallen among wild beasts — unable to join in the
wickedness of his fellows, neither would he be able alone to re-
sist all their fierce natures, and therefore he would be of no use
to the State or to his friends, and would have to throw away his
life before he had done any good to himself or others. 12 And
he reflects upon all this, and holds his peace, and does his own
business. He is like one who retires under the shelter of a
wall in the storm of dust and sleet which the driving wind
hurries along ; and when he sees the rest of mankind full of
wickedness, he is content if only he can live his own life and
be pure from evil or unrighteousness, and depart in peace and
good will, with bright hopes.

And he who does this, he said, will have done a great work
before he departs.

Yes, I said, a great work, but not the greatest, unless he find
a State suitable to him ; for in a State which is suitable to
him he will have a larger growth, and be the saviour of '
his country as well as of himself.

Enough, then, of the causes why philosophy is in such an
evil name ; how unjustly, has been explained : and now is
there anything more which you wish to say ?

•See Book IX., 590.

10 Mentioned in Apology, 33.

11 See Apology, 31 and 40.

n Plato had personal experiences upon which to base this passage. His
master Socrates had been martyred (see Apology, 31, where Socrates tells why
he took no part in public affairs). Plato himself had been sold as a slave
by the tyrant of Syracuse. His painful experiences in endeavoring to re-
form the government of Syracuse probably occurred after the writing of the
Republic.

20



306 PLATO THE TEACHER

Nothing more of that, he replied ; but I should like to know
which of the existing governments you deem suitable to phi-
losophy.

Not any of them, I said ; and that is the very accusation
which I bring against them : not one of them is worthy of the
philosophic nature : and hence that nature is warped and
alienated from them ; as the exotic seed which is sown in a
foreign land becomes denaturalized, and assimilates to the
character of the soil, which gets the better, even so this growth
of philosophy, instead of persisting, receives another character.
But if philosophy ever finds that perfection in the State which
she herself is, then will be seen that she is in truth divine, and
that all other things, whether natures of men or institutions,
are but human ; and now, I know, that you are going to ask
what that State is.

No, he said ; there you are wrong, for I was going to ask
another question — whether this is the State of which we are
the founders and inventors, or another ?

Yes, I replied, ours in most respects ; but you may remem-
ber our saying before that some living authority would always
be required in the State, whose idea of the constitution would
be the same which guided you originally when laying down
the laws.

That was said, he replied.

Yes, but imperfectly said; you frightened us with objec-
tions, which certainly showed that the discussion would be
long and difficult; and even what remains is the reverse of
easy.

What is that ?

The question how the study of philosophy may be so ordered
as to be consistent with the preservation of the State ; for all
great things are attended with risk; as the saying is, " Hard
is the good."

Still, he said, let us clear that point up, and the inquiry will
then be complete.

I shall not be hindered, I said, by any want of will, but,
if at all, by a want of power : of my zeal you shall have ocular
demonstration ; and please to remark how bold I am just now
in venturing to assert that a State ought not to have philosophy
studied after the present fashion.

How do you mean ?



THE REPUBLIC 307

At present, I said, even those who study philosophy in early
youth, and in the intervals of money-making and housekeep-
ing, do but make an approach to the most difficult branch
of the study, and then take themselves off (I am speak- 49
ing of those who have the most training, and by the most
difficult branch I mean dialectic) ; and in after life they per-
haps go to a discussion which is held by others, and to which
they are invited, and this they deem a great matter, as the
study of philosophy is not regarded by them as their proper
business : then, as years advance, in most cases their light is
quenched more truly than Heracleitus' sun, for they never rise
again. 13

But what ought to be their course?

Just the opposite. In childhood and youth their study, and
what philosophy they learn, should be suited to their tender
age : let them take care of their bodies during the period of
growth, and thus philosophy will have her instruments ready ;
as the man advances to mature intelligence, increasing the
gymnastics of the soul ; but when their strength fails, and is
past civil and military duties, then let them range at will and
have no other serious employment, as we intend them to live
happily here, and, this life ended, to have a similar happy
destiny in another.

How truly in earnest you are, Socrates ! he said ; I am sure
of that ; and yet I believe that most of your hearers are likely
to be still more in earnest in their opposition to you, and will
never be converted ; Thrasymachus least of all.

Don't raise a quarrel, I said, between Thrasymachus and
me, who have just become friends, although, indeed, we were
never enemies; for I shall go on using every effort until I
either convert him and other men, or do something which
avails against the day when they live again, and hold the like
discourse in another existence.

That will be a long time hence.

Say rather, I replied, a time which is not to be reckoned
in comparison with eternity. That the world will not believe
my words is quite natural ; for they never saw that of which
we are now speaking realized ; what they saw was a conven-

13 Heracleitus (her'a-kli'tus): a great philosopher, living in Ephesusin Asia
Minor about 500 B.C. Heracleitus said the sun was extinguished every
evening and new every morning.



308 PLATO THE TEACHER

tional imitation of philosophy, which consisted of words ar-
tificially brought together, not like these agreeing of their
own accord ; but a human being who in word and work is
perfectly moulded, as far as he can be, into the proportion and
likeness of virtue, such an one ruling in a city which
bears the same image they have never yet seen, in the
case of one any more than of many — do you think they ever
did?

No, indeed.

No, my friend, nor have they often heard the words of
beauty and freedom ; such words as those which men use
when they are earnestly and in every way seeking after truth,
for the sake of knowledge, while they look coldly on the
subtleties of controversy, the end of which is opinion and
strife, whether they meet with them in the courts of law or in
society.

They are strangers, he said, to the words of which you
speak.

And this was what we foresaw, and this was the reason why
truth forced us to admit that there is no chance of perfection,
either in cities or governments or individuals, until a neces-
sity was laid upon the second small class of philosophers (not
the rogues, but those whom we termed useless), of taking care
of the State and obeying the call of the State ; or until kings
themselves, or the sons of kings or potentates, were inspired
with a true love of philosophy. Now I maintain that there is
no reason in saying that either of these alternatives, or both of
them, is impossible; if they were, we might indeed be justly
ridiculed as dreamers and visionaries. Am I not right ?

Quite right.

If then, in the countless ages of the past, or at the present
hour in some foreign clime which is far away and beyond our
ken, the perfected philosopher is or has been or shall be here-
after compelled by a superior power to have the charge of the
State, we are ready to assert to the death, that this our con-
stitution has been, is, yea, and will be at any time, when the
Muse of Philosophy is queen. Neither is there any impossi-
bility in this ; the difficulty is not denied by us.

I agree with you, he said.

But you will say that mankind in general are not agreed?

That is what I should say, he replied.



THE REPUBLIC 309

my friend, I said, do not have such a bad opinion of
mankind : they will surely be of another mind, if gently and
with the view of soothing them and removing the evil name of
too much learning, you show them the philosopher as just now
described, according to his true character and profes-
sion, and then they will see that you are not speaking of
those whom they supposed ; if they view him in this light,
they will surely change their mind, and answer in another
strain. Who can be at enmity with one who loves them ; who
that is himself gentle and free from envy will be jealous of one
in whom there is no jealousy ? Nay, let me answer for you,
that a few such there may be, but not many who have so
harsh a temper.

1 entirely agree with you, he said.

And do you not agree with me also as to the cause of the
harsh feeling which the many have towards philosophy ? This
originates in the pretenders, who enter in, like a band of rev-
elers, where they have no business, and are always abusing
and quarreling with them, who make persons instead of things
the theme of their conversation ; and this is most unbecoming
in philosophers.

Most unbecoming.

For he, Adeimantus, whose mind is fixed upon true being
has no time to look down upon the affairs of men, or to be
filled with jealousy and enmity in the struggle against them ;
his eye is ever directed towards fixed and immutable princi-
ples, which he sees neither injuring nor injured by one an-
other, but all in order moving according to reason ; these he
imitates, and to these he would, as far as he can, conform him-
self. Can a man help imitating that with which he holds rev-
erential converse?

Impossible.

And the philosopher also, conversing with the divine and
immutable, becomes a part of that divine and immutable or-
der, 14 as far as nature allows ; but all things are liable to de-
traction.

Certainly.

And if a necessity be laid upon him of fashioning, not

14 The thought that if we lovingly attend to the divine, we shall imitate
the divine, and that if we lovingly imitate the divine we shall become divine
and eternal is the argument of S. John xv.



310 PLATO THE TEACHER

only himself but human nature generally, whether in States or
individuals, into that which he there beholds, think you that
he will be an unskillful artificer of justice, temperance, and
every civil virtue ?

Anything but unskillful.

And if the world perceives that we are speaking the truth
about him, will they be angry with philosophy ? Will they
disbelieve us, when we tell them that the State can only be
happy which is planned by artists who make use of the heav-
enly pattern ?

They will not be angry if they only understand, he
5 replied. But what do you mean about the plan ?

I mean, I replied, that they will take a State and human
nature for their tablet and begin by making a clean surface.
Now this is not an easy thing to do ; and this is the mark
which at once distinguishes them from every other legis-