Page - 805 - in The Complete Plato

practical and those which are purely intellectual. YOUNG SOCRATES: Let us assume these two divisions of science, which is one whole. STRANGER: And are ‘statesman,’ ‘king,’ ‘master,’ or ‘householder,’ one and the same; or is there a science or art answering to each of these names? Or rather, allow me to put the matter in another way. YOUNG SOCRATES: Let me hear. STRANGER: If any one who is in a private station has the skill to advise one of the public physicians, must not he also be called a physician? YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. STRANGER: And if any one who is in a private station is able to advise the ruler of a country, may not he be said to have the knowledge which the ruler himself ought to have? YOUNG SOCRATES: True. STRANGER: But surely the science of a true king is royal science? YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. STRANGER: And will not he who possesses this knowledge, whether he happens to be a ruler or a private man, when regarded only in reference to his art, be truly called ‘royal’? YOUNG SOCRATES: He certainly ought to be. STRANGER: And the householder and master are the same? YOUNG SOCRATES: Of course. STRANGER: Again, a large household may be compared to a small state: —will they differ at all, as far as government is concerned? YOUNG SOCRATES: They will not. STRANGER: Then, returning to the point which we were just now discussing, do we not clearly see that there is one science of all of them; and this science may be called either royal or political or economical; we will not quarrel with any one about the name. YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly not. STRANGER: This too, is evident, that the king cannot do much with his hands, or with his whole body, towards the maintenance of his empire, compared with what he does by the intelligence and strength of his mind. 805