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He assented.
‘And is this a sort of thing which is of the nature of the holy, or of the
nature of the unholy?’ I should be angry at his putting such a question, and
should say, ‘Peace, man; nothing can be holy if holiness is not holy.’ What
would you say? Would you not answer in the same way?
Certainly, he said.
And then after this suppose that he came and asked us, ‘What were you
saying just now? Perhaps I may not have heard you rightly, but you seemed to
me to be saying that the parts of virtue were not the same as one another.’ I
should reply, ‘You certainly heard that said, but not, as you imagine, by me;
for I only asked the question; Protagoras gave the answer.’ And suppose that
he turned to you and said, ‘Is this true, Protagoras? and do you maintain that
one part of virtue is unlike another, and is this your position?’—how would
you answer him?
I could not help acknowledging the truth of what he said, Socrates.
Well then, Protagoras, we will assume this; and now supposing that he
proceeded to say further, ‘Then holiness is not of the nature of justice, nor
justice of the nature of holiness, but of the nature of unholiness; and holiness
is of the nature of the not just, and therefore of the unjust, and the unjust is the
unholy’: how shall we answer him? I should certainly answer him on my own
behalf that justice is holy, and that holiness is just; and I would say in like
manner on your behalf also, if you would allow me, that justice is either the
same with holiness, or very nearly the same; and above all I would assert that
justice is like holiness and holiness is like justice; and I wish that you would
tell me whether I may be permitted to give this answer on your behalf, and
whether you would agree with me.
He replied, I cannot simply agree, Socrates, to the proposition that justice is
holy and that holiness is just, for there appears to me to be a difference
between them. But what matter? if you please I please; and let us assume, if
you will I, that justice is holy, and that holiness is just.
Pardon me, I replied; I do not want this ‘if you wish’ or ‘if you will’ sort of
conclusion to be proven, but I want you and me to be proven: I mean to say
that the conclusion will be best proven if there be no ‘if.’
Well, he said, I admit that justice bears a resemblance to holiness, for there
is always some point of view in which everything is like every other thing;
white is in a certain way like black, and hard is like soft, and the most
extreme opposites have some qualities in common; even the parts of the face
which, as we were saying before, are distinct and have different functions, are
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Buch The Complete Plato"
The Complete Plato
- Titel
- The Complete Plato
- Autor
- Plato
- Datum
- ~347 B.C.
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- PD
- Abmessungen
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Seiten
- 1612
- Schlagwörter
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Kategorien
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International