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others in which two or more different natures are said to grow into one.
There are said to have been such unions.
Then do you now model the form of a multitudinous, manyheaded monster,
having a ring of heads of all manner of beasts, tame and wild, which he is
able to generate and metamorphose at will.
You suppose marvellous powers in the artist; but, as language is more
pliable than wax or any similar substance, let there be such a model as you
propose.
Suppose now that you make a second form as of a lion, and a third of a
man, the second smaller than the first, and the third smaller than the second.
That, he said, is an easier task; and I have made them as you say.
And now join them, and let the three grow into one.
That has been accomplished.
Next fashion the outside of them into a single image, as of a man, so that he
who is not able to look within, and sees only the outer hull, may believe the
beast to be a single human creature. I have done so, he said.
And now, to him who maintains that it is profitable for the human creature
to be unjust, and unprofitable to be just, let us reply that, if he be right, it is
profitable for this creature to feast the multitudinous monster and strengthen
the lion and the lion-like qualities, but to starve and weaken the man, who is
consequently liable to be dragged about at the mercy of either of the other
two; and he is not to attempt to familiarize or harmonize them with one
another—he ought rather to suffer them to fight, and bite and devour one
another.
Certainly, he said; that is what the approver of injustice says.
To him the supporter of justice makes answer that he should ever so speak
and act as to give the man within him in some way or other the most complete
mastery over the entire human creature.
He should watch over the manyheaded monster like a good husbandman,
fostering and cultivating the gentle qualities, and preventing the wild ones
from growing; he should be making the lion-heart his ally, and in common
care of them all should be uniting the several parts with one another and with
himself.
Yes, he said, that is quite what the maintainer of justice will say.
And so from every point of view, whether of pleasure, honor, or advantage,
the approver of justice is right and speaks the truth, and the disapprover is
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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